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Tuesday 7th September
 Razor ridges radiating from the Gamsspitzl I aimed for the saddle between the Wilder Freiger and the Gamsspitzl. This involved traversing a loose boulder slope above an old glacier. I once sent a rather large boulder crashing down onto the glacier below. It often felt a little dicey, It felt like the entire slope was precariously balanced and that one wrong move would see me and tons of stones go sliding down. Eventually I made it to the saddle, only to be confronted with a rather narrow ridge. Dammit! I was going to climb this summit, my only 3000m summit, my 1st 3000m summit. I met Christoph who had just ran up to the edge of the Freiger Glacier. He said the ridge was OK, but he was quite nimble on such narrow ridges. He said the direct route from the bottom of the glacier I just traversed above was much easier. Great! More stonefall! I returned to the glacier but I kept to the snow, ice and rock on the glacier rather than the loose rock next to it. It was fine and eventually I made my way upto the Gamsspitzl.
The views all this morning were breathtaking. On Gamsspitzl, the summit was just high enough to see across the frontier ridge to the Dolomites. I returned to the Nurnburger in the gathering heat before proceeding up the path to the Mairspitz (2781m). This path has a few fixed ropes but the path is largely trivial. I make it to the cross with its two park benches, how civilised! However the ridge beyond to the true summit was an unprotected scramble on a narrow ridge. After a little investigation, I proceeded no further.  The dolomites seen beyond the frontier ridge The descent down the Sulzenau side of the Mairspitz was steeper, but still short and still quite easy. There were amazing views of the Wilder Freiger Glacier systems but the Grunausee was an amazing lake to sit down and relax beside. I then proceeded the remaining way to the Sulzenau Hut. The hut was nice, sat at the head of a hanging valley with a splendid view right down the Stubaital. The hut was once destroyed by an avalanche and photographs in the dining room show the testiment to that (not exactly a good advert!).
Wednesday 8th September
Top Tip #3: Wired ropes often have
frayed edges. Bring workman gloves to protect against cuts. Upon reaching the ridge, the view out to the north and west opened up. The ridge started very broad but narrowed progressively towards the summit. The day started off clear but high cirrus cloud was coming in from the north. This diluted the sun, but still the photographs were quite good.
The descent to the Dresdner hut was formed by a series of zigzags on loose rock. Occassionally small stones would fall on their own accord, but the path was reasonably stable. The Dresdner hut was at the hub of a skiing complex. There wasn't any sense of being away from it all here. The sounds of mechanisation were abound everywhere. I took a short excursion up a local summit known as the Egessengrat. This summit offers a Klettersteig route that starts quite close to the hut for those wanting a bit of afternoon excitement. I did not take the Klteersteig route, rather I took an marked path to its summit.
The hut was the most expensive at 10 Euros for a mattress space + 1 Euro for a shower. It was probably my least favourite hut on the whole circuit and those doing the rucksack route may well consider doing a walk straight from Sulzenau hut to the Neue Regensburger Hut without staying over at the Dresdner. Thursday 9th September
The walk starts by taking a path up to a Saddle beneath Egesengrat before descending via a track to the start of a traverse above the Stubai valley. Around this part of the valley are sheep with bunny rabbit shaped ears. These sheep are much larger than those typically seen in the UK and are also much more curious. Taking good photos of them is quite easy, they walk up to you and often they won't leave you alone - following you along the paths. The path goes round several spurs, two of which involve steep ground and fixed ropes. One is called Shafspitzl and offers commanding views up and down the Stubai valley and is approximately the halfway mark. A little further beyond I began to meet the crowds who coming from the Neue Regensburger hut. There is a pass ahead that is the highest pass on the rucksack route (the Grawaggruabeneder). The descent from this pass is described in the guidebook as very steep with loose stones and a glacier to cross at the bottom. The guidebook made it sound like the crux of the route and I was fully expecting something quite scary. I reached the pass and looked down the other side. It certainly was do-able and not as steep as what I had encountered on the route before. Nevertheless loose rocks do form a danger and so groups should stay together. Thankfully the path took a rough diagonal descent minimising exposure to people above.
The route had been changed slightly - a notice in the Dresdner hut showed a photo of the new route. That said, the paint marks from the old route were still present. I descended down to the remains of the glacier. A loose steel rope (fixed at the top) offered a reassuring hand rail down the snow slope for those without ice axes. The snow was consolidated and quite firm making it slippy. Once off the snow slope, I was on glacial moraine. But it wasn't until further when I saw ice beneath the moraine. I was still on a glacier! It was amazing, I thought it was just another boulder field but no! The valley I was in (Hoachmoos) had a glacier at its head and every now and again, the sound of a falling rock could be heard. This certainly wasn't a hospitable area. I proceeded down the now very good path to the valley floor where the land was more fertile and hospitable. At the bottom of the valley was the hut. It was sat in a spectacular position above the Stubaital. I would say that this hut was one of my more favoured huts. I met some new people, this time british folk from the south coast of England who were out for their annual holidays. Already the walk seemed to start to draw to a close. Tomorrow would see me at the Franz Senn hut. Friday 10th September Today, as usual, dawned bright and beautiful. It was starting to get a little surreal having all this nice weather! Before heading off the Franz Senn Hut, I wanted to attempt an ascent of a 3082m peak known as Östl. Knotenspitz. The lady at the hut said the path was very steep, but easy. The map confirms this, indeed the contours on the final slope are the steepest of any path I've done so far.
I began the plod up to the bottom of the mountain early in the morning. The ascent in total is 800m from the hut to the summit, 600m of this is on easy ground. Nearing the final steep slope, there is a lot of bouldery moraine. Finally the steep slope was now to be tackled. The path zigzagged easily before coming across the first fixed rope section. Here I turned back. The fixed rope section didn't look difficult but I was aware of the increasing exposure as I gained height. I felt very alone, and thus felt vulnerable to slip. So I turned back and examined the cliff and the route of the path from a more objective distance. I could see the odd paintmark on the cliff, showing where the path would go. It certainly took some steep sections but there could be some easy ledges that were hidden from view. Not much can be seen from below.
I continued down to the Regensburger Hut and then continued on a very pleasant path traversing above the valley. Now I had a rising plod upto the 2700m pass of the Schrimmennieder. From the pass, I took a small diversion upto a small 2830m summit known as Basslerjoch. The views here were tremendous, especially the view looking back along the spine of the ridge towards the glaciers. The summit was a pleasant narrow grass ridge just steep enough for me to worry my rucksack tumbling down the slope should I wish to have lunch up here. I found a pleasant spot for lunch before returning to the pass and continuing on my way to the hut. The route descended a rocky corrie devoid of vegetation before zigzagging down to richer pasters and contouring across to the Franz Senn hut. Welcome to goat land! The sheep had been replaced, the baaaa's had changed to mje-e-e. The Franz Senn hut was the largest hut on the route. It was a somewhat commercial affair with internet terminals and a lack of personal hospitality. I chose a mattress space again, but here they assign you a specific mattress area to sleep in. Great! Everyone in this cavernous mattress room was assigned the same small section of it. This left me potentially rubbing shoulders with the folk who chose to occupying the mattress space right next to me. In these instances, one breaks the rules and occupies another empty space all to oneself (only to be disturbed by late arrivals at midnight arrrrggghhhh!!!) Saturday 11th September
This was a good walk with not much up and down along a good path. That said, there was some dramatic exposure in places. The exposure was particularly evident as path circled down the recessed corrie of the Villergrube. Here you see the edge of the path and then nothing until the valley bottom. Despite this, the path was easy and only the clumsy would have to worry about this section. The rounded a corner and the angle of the slope dramatically eased. I passed a hut (Secducker Hochalm) which appears to be the hub of sheep farming here. A shepherd was about attracting the sheep with his feed. Before his presence, I felt somewhat harassed by the sheep! The sheep were soon gone leaving me to traverse steep slopes to a saddle on the crest of the ridge at Sendersjöchl. I followed the ridge a bit before the path then deviated from the ridge traversig the slopes again through to the saddle with Schlicker Seespitze (2804m).
At this saddle I met two men and enquired about Schlicker Seepitze. They said it was steep and quite dangerous. I later learned at the Starkenburger that it was actually quite easy with only one fixed rope section. I suppose everyone has their own opinion as to what it easy or not. I continued to the Starkenburger climbing the lower summit of the Hoher Burgstall (2611m). The peaks here were all dolomite limestone - dramtically different from the Glaciated Stubai. I descended steeply and arrived at the Starkenburger early afternoon. The slopes here all had steel avalanche fences to protect the villages below. By now the clouds were building into mature cumulus clouds with one or two evidently giving rain. It was a shame as the hut was in a superb location for taking photographs.
The hut itself was very modern with all its electricity being drawn off photovoltaic solar panels. I had a long drive the next day so I booked a bed rather than a mattress. For 9 Euros, I got my own room with a single bed - excellent for keeping the snorers out! Unfortunately no showers, but plenty of hot water from the sinks. Sunday 12th September Once down, I boarded the bus. Guess what! It started to rain! The remainder of the journey home continued without mishap. All in all, it was a good trip. Arrived home 11.30pm, time for work in 7hrs time. Conclusions But in a way, easy access makes the place less special. I'm a wilderness man myself, I like DIY holidays where one has to carry all their food and accommodation. I like remoteness away from the crowds, I like the challenge of inventing my way across upland fells without paths. But everyone has their own way of enjoying a holiday. Will I be back to Austria? Yes I will be! But I'll be doing things differently, I think wild camping can be risked, it's tolerated out of sight. I hardly think they'll send out a police helicopter to fetch someone breaking a minor rule. But I like the huts as well, they're social, very reasonably priced and warm. The only thing I can say is that next time I'll be bringing my own breakfast! |
