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Karwendel Alps Final Day

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The final day in the mountains saw us waking up in the Pfeishutte in Austria, which is almost due north of Innsbruck. The Pfieshutte sits at about 2,000m, and was very busy. We were in the uppermost dormitory, in a room meant for (I think) 10, and I reckon there were probably 14 in there, which made it a little cosy. Thankfully I had what approximates to a single bed, the only one I have ever seen in any mountain hut, and since I was waking up with my leg strapped up from yesterday’s fall, I was very grateful to be in it.

The Pfeishutte, on the morning of our final day

We set out after a very nice breakfast of the usual mountain fare, and headed for a pass which would ultimately take us down a steep scree path, from about 2,250m to the valley floor just outside Innsbruck at around 700m or so.

The top of the pass on the Goetheweg trail.

Reaching the top of the pass was pretty easy going, despite the heat. We had heard that the weather forecast for Innsbruck was 37C (99F), which is much hotter than I think they ever get in that part of the world. Although we were considerably higher than Innsbruck itself, the temperature was still brutally warm to be doing any kind of physical exercise.

At the top of the pass immediately before the descent to Innsbruck.

We then came to the start of the descent. The path was essentially just scree, and very steep. It was hard not to slide on almost every step, which made the heat seem even worse. It was also hard not to look at the view of Innsbruck and the Alps south of there, which totally dominated every view.

The beginning of the descent, Innsbruck in the valley far below

After a while of sort of stumbling down the hill and wondering how long it would take, we were passed at great speed by a couple who were scree-skiing. The penny then dropped that this was really about the only way to get down, and certainly quicker, and probably just as safe, so we went for it.

Scree-skiing down the mountain….

…..which brought Innsbruck ever closer…….

….even if I sometimes ended up……

…….sitting on my backside!

When we got down to about 1,200m or so, there was a very welcome hut called the Rumer Alm, where we stopped for lunch and a drink. the temperature by now was really hot, even in the shade, but the break was very welcome nonethless.

The walk down from the hut to Rum itself (a suburb of northern Innsbruck) was about a further hour, and was basically a beautiful walk through a stunning pine forest.

The walk down to Rum from Rumer Alm

By the time we reached the very bottom, where we would get a bus back to Absam (where we had parked the car three days before), we could see back up the mountain to the top of where we had descended from:

The view back up to the Goetheweg (far distance) from Rum, Innsbruck

From here after the bus we returned to Achensee on the way back (and the World Cup final in an Italian Bar full of very miserable Italians by the end of the night!) before returning to Munich for the flight back to the UK.

The Karwendel Alps had been great. Considering I had never even heard of the region itself only a week before going, it had been a real surprise in terms of what it had to offer, including the diversity (and difficulty) of terrain, the beauty of the mountains themselves, and the hospitality and friendliness of the Austrian people. Blessed also with wonderful weather, great company, fine food, and some very fine mountain huts, it made the trip hugely enjoyable. I resolved that it should not be long before I returned to the region, something that as it turned out would be a lot more prophetic, and indeed imminent, than it first appeared……..

Karwendel Alps Day 3

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Waking up in a 10 foot by 10 foot room in a mountain hut with 10 people in it, all laid out like sardines in a tin, is never the best recipe for a good night’s sleep. And so at 5.48am I woke up for the sixth and final time this morning in the Hallerangerhaus hut in the Austrian Karwendel Alps. The area is nothing short of outstandingly beautiful, with some soaring and scary cliffs around us (graded 9+ in the German scale, which I think is 5.13c or so on the US rankings ).

Breakfast was at a very civilised 7am, and we were able to enjoy some muesli,
and bread with honey and jam to get us back up the mountain from where we had descended the day before.

We should head up there somewhere…….

A beautiful day awaited us as we set out.

Our path back up to where we had descended from the previous evening

The path up to the top at about 2,200m was steep, but thankfully was north facing, and so the sun had not yet reached this part (we left at 8am) and so it kept it cool enough to be bearable. We also stopped en route to make a small ‘birthday’ cairn and for Verena as it was her birthday:

Happy Birthday Verena!

Once over the top, that path was a beautiful traverse, called the Wilde Bande Steig. It was a scramble in parts, and sometimes was secured by small sections of via ferrata, but no clipping in was required.

About to set off along the Wilde Bande Steig – our path would take us up the snowy col in the distance eventually.

A closer view of the Wilde Bande Steig path on the right of the picture

A couple of snowfields had to be crossed, but the snow was firm but yielding and so did not require crampons, which was a relief as I had left mine at the bottom of the mountain!

Making our way along a tricky section of the Wilde Bande Steig

Crossing a snowfield

Close up of the path on the other side of the valley, it looked a bit precarious to me…

After crossing a final precariously perched snowfield, we began the climb up to the col, the Stempeljoch. The path was very steep and it was by now extremely hot, and virtually windless, but otherwise wasn’t too bad.

The final path up to the Stempeljoch from the Wilde Bande Steig

Once over the top of the Stempeljoch we climbed up to get a view back over the ridge back down the valley. It was a beautiful view. When I took the photo below however I then stupidly stepped backwards into thin air and fell, landing onto my shin. Although it was only a short fall, my shin bled profusely (high pulse/blood pressure at the top of the climb no doubt contributing to this) and it looked a lot worse than it ultimately was.

I bled a lot for this photograph 🙂 The view behind shows part of the path that we used to ascend.

From here we thankfully had only a shortish walk to the next hut, the Pfeishutte. We went down straight away so that I could get my lep patched and cleaned up. The people at the hut (and I should most certainly say the same for both Susanne and Verena too) were fantastic, and I’m very grateful to them. Although my cuts weren’t ultimately too bad, they were very all very diligent, and it made me realise that if things had been worse (I could, and probably should, have fallen further than I did) then I was in safe hands.

The path down to the Pfeishutte, shown in the middle of the picture.

Duly bandaged up, the staff at the hut told me that I should put my feet up for the afternoon, and never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I did :). I did then feel rather sorry for Verena and Susanne, as had it not been for my fall (or stupidity, or both) then we would and should have gone on to do a summit that afternoon, but instead they looked after me and took me down.

The rest of the day I therefore recuperated. I did so with some of the very best Kaiserschmarm I have ever eaten. If you haven’t had Kaiserchmarm before then it is basically a sort of mishmash of caremalised pancakes, with some raisins and sultanas added, and covered in powdered sugar, served with a fruit compote. I love this stuff so much, that it deserves a picture of it’s own, so here we go:

Kaiserschmarm – food of the gods!

The Pfeishutte was packed to the rafters, but thankfully we had places to sleep having rang ahead the day before. In the morning we would start our descent from the mountains  in the direction of Innsbruck, on what sounded a potentially steep section of scree – it sounded great.