2004 Stubai Alps Ski Tour - Part 1

Jim Frankenfield; snowman@csac.org; 1-877-604-0166

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Narrative Report

This is an overall narrative of the first of two solo ski mountaineering tours of 4-5 days each in the Stubai Alps (Austria) in June, 2004. The main report page has thumbnail photos with some comments, and the thumbnails are each linked to a page with the full size photo and specific comments from that part of the tour. There is also a resources page for anyone interested in planning a similar trip to this area.

On Tuesday (June 8) I caught a bus in the afternoon from Innsbruck to Milders and walked up the valley to Ober Iss then up the trail to the Franz Senn hut. The winter room was already warmed up with a roaring fire in the stove by a young hiker from Poland, and there was another gentleman from England there as well. There was no snow to this point. (2147 m)

On Wednesday I hiked a short way up the Obertal valley (Tal=valley) past the hut and was able to put the skis on. Prior to this trip it had rained in the valley for most of a week and snowed up high. Throughout the trip I found 10-70 cm of recent snow on top of the old hard surface. This was generally saturated but formed a barely supportable crust most nights. As the day warmed there were frequent wet snow avalanches off steep rocky slopes, with more as the week went on. There were a few crown lines from thin slabs releasing to the ground on steep northerly aspects in the mid elevation ranges of about 2400-2800 m.

From the Franz Senn hut I climbed the Alpeinferner (ferner = glacier) to its crest, staying to the climbers right of an icefall in the middle. At the top it is possible to ski across and ascend Ruderhofspitze but I decided I was better off passing on that in the interest of time. Snow conditions made it wise to finish the days early. So I crossed a divide to the Schmarzenberg ferner, with great views of the Shrankogel, and skied down that keeping to the skiers left of some crevasses. The snow began as a good supportable surface with a few nice turns but quickly turned to breakable crust. And then, eventually, to pure slush. The snow ran out before reaching the bottom of the Sultztal so some scrambling down loose rocks with the skis on the pack was required. A short hike along the valley bottom took me to the Amberger Hut. I shared this with two guys from Munich hoping to climb the north face of the Shrankogel and four hikers from Trier. These lower huts were getting some summer use and would open soon. This one was being readied for opening, but we all stayed in the winter room.

On Thursday I ascended the right side of the Sultztalferner, again keeping to the edge to avoid icefalls and crevasses. I passed below the Wilde Leek and spotted two climbers on the lower rock buttress. I had been paralleling their snowshoe tracks which ended at the base of their climb. The top of this glacier is a pass called Wietenkarsattel which is gained by staying right of some crevasses or a bergshrund and left of the wet avalanche debris coming down. From here you can see across the Wutenkarferner to the Hochstubaihutte, the highest in the Austrian part of the Stubai. The drop-off from Wietenkarsattel is steep and a bit blind from above, but after managing that the glacier is traversed up high to reach the hut. This winter room had not been used for a while and I had to dig the entry way out of a snowdrift from the recent snowfall. It is a rather spartan but very enjoyable place to spend a night.

During the night it clouded over and some areas had thunderstorms. I awoke to graupel pounding the window once. As a result of this weather the snow did not refreeze and there was no crust Friday morning.

So on Friday I went back across the glacier to Wietenkarsattel and back down to the head of the Sultztalferner but this time crossed the glacier to reach Daunjoch (joch=saddle), which is above the Stubai Getscher ski lifts.

This was a bit slow since I was breaking trail sinking into the wet snow with no crust now. Halfway across the glacier I saw my friend Peter waiting in the saddle, as we had planned. The climb up to the saddle was incredibly steep, with shallow wet snow. I got half way up on the skis then put them on the pack and very carefully climbed the loose rock to the left until I could regain the snow.

Peter and I skied down to the piste, skirting the wet slide debris and watching some more come down. We used the pistes to ski down to the Dresdener hut and the cable car mid-station and took that to the valley floor. Peter had brought some more of my supplies so I could return on the cable car and lifts to the Hildesheimer Hut and continue touring, but given the snow and weather conditions I returned to Innsbruck. After a cold front moved through I returned and did a bit more of the tour, which remained high. The lower huts had lost most of their snow and were beginning to open and see summer use (and therefore to offer less solitude and to cost a lot).

Jim

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