Austrian Alps

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

[Climbing and Mountain Recreation Page]

Stubai and Pitztal Alps, 2000 - In May of 2000 I was in Innsbruck to attend a conference on avalanches sponsored by the International Glaciology Society. I spent about an extra week in order to ski. The two bigger trips shown here were an ascent of the Zuckerhutl from the Hildesheimer Hutte in the Stubai Alps and an ascent of the Wildspitze in the Pitztal Alps from the Braunschweiger Hütte. I also took the Nordkette Bahn to the top from Innsbruck, skied down the backside into the Karwindel Alps, and hiked out to the town of Scharnitz..
The Zuckerhutl, the route, and a shot from the descent.
The Hildesheimer Hutte. At left note the winter room perched out on the edge to the left. The right is the view across the Solden Valley.
A few panoramas.
Summit of the Wildspitze. Some skiers traversed along the summit ridge for a steeper line down. Many of us left our skis at the base of the summit section.
The descent.
Stubai Alps, 2002 - In November, 2002 I went on a trip to Bavaria and Austria and once again went to the Hildesheimer Hutte. Despite the nice weather reflected in these photos from the first day I woke up at the hut to a howling wind, eventually climbed to the ski area despite being knocked over periodically, and found it closed. I skied down to the Dresdener Hutte and was given a ride down in the cable car with some employees and a local guide at the end of the day. The guide had a close encounter with an avalanche on the tour up to the hut (where his clients stayed.) A week or so later a snowboarder was killed in an avalanche just below the Dresden Hutte when they started riding down due to long lines for the Gondola.
Views of the Zuckerhutl and the hutte.
Views around the Stubai Glacier ski area.
Due to recent high foehn winds there was a lot of avalanche activity. Here one came down adjacent to a trail, probably due to intentional control work.

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