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After our enjoyable experiences in 1999 Bill and I decided on another Austrian walk the following summer.; We wanted to go to the Zillertal, but the walking there is serious and good weather essential - the forecast was not good.
The Stubai Alps lie just east of the Brenner pass on the border with Italy and rise to over 3500m
The Stubai Alps - the walk circles the shaded area at the head. of the StubaitalA ring of eight huts circles the head of the valley - we took in five skipping the Sulzenau: This "3D map" maybe shows it best. We went clockwise but the reverse is equally good. The huts are all around the 22-2400m mark and are connected by passes (2700-2900m) separating the valleys fanning out from the main one. There is also a "High" route which takes in glaciers and peaks, but requires alpine equipmentWe drove out to Innsbruck, cutting South of the city, and parked somewhere near Neder at about 1000m
Day 1The walk up the Pinnistal started on an easy angled track, but steepened considerably at the end. There was snow on the ground near the top and we started to notice the effect of the altitude above about 1700m Looking back down the Pinnistal from just above the snowlineapproaching the PinnisjochThe path to the hut (flag) just beyond the joch - with the 3277m Habiicht behindA very snowy InnsbruckehutteModern Library picture of the hut - the normal route on to the Bremer hut heads through the gap slightly L of centre View from the hut next morning: new snow covers the peaks of the TribulaunThe normal route to the Bremer hut heads over the shoulder slightly R of centreWe were advised by the guardian that the in view of the fresh snow, this route was "unsuitable" and we should descend a track - around 1000m
- to Obertal in the Geschnitztal, continue to the roadhead and take the track up the valley to the 2411m hut - quite a big chunk of ascent
. The map today shows a lift from Obertal to the hut - but there was just a track then
The other problem with all the fresh snow was that it makes a lot of the photos of this walk look rather Wintery and it's difficult to separate the fresh snow from the permanent.
Day 2Routes from the Innsbrucke to the Bremer hutDescending through forest from the hut - the 2636m Hohes Tor oppositeA hot walk up the GeschnitztalThe long climb back up to the Bremer hut - the map shows there is now a lift up here as well - so today we could take a lift down into the valley, have a few beers and then take another up to the
Bremer Bremer hut - modern library photographFrom the hut looking back to the Habischt in the evening sunshine, with the Geschnitztal down on the RDay 3The route from the Bremerhutte to the Nurnbergerhutte crosses the 2881m Simmingjochl on the Italian border, descends into the Grubl cirque, crosses the Langetal and Climbs slightly to the 2281m hut.Struggling through soft snow on the way up to the SimmingjochlDeep wet snow in the final gully up to the colBeside the old customs hut on the 2754m SimmingjochlLooking West, our route to the Nurnbergerhutte is more or less straight ahead, but the descent heads R down a ramp - slightly awkward in the conditionsLooking back the top of the awkward ramp is arrowedThe route goes through glacial debris and passes several small lakes in the upper basin of the Grubl circque and then descends again into the LangetalBelow the snowline: a fixed wire on the final descent At the bottom of the steepest part of the descentNurnbergerhutte - modern library photograph From just above the hut looking back to the Grubl basin and the Simmingjochl Zoomed view At the hut we got into conversation with a young New Zealand couple - Steve and Tamara (Tam). Who seemed to be doing the same as us. They were living at the time in Liverpool and had flown out to Innsbrucke with just their rucksacks and continued to the Stubai by bus. They had originally intended to do the "high" route and had a lot of climbing equipment in their immensely heavy packs (Steve had 25kg and Tam 18kg
) but in the snowy conditions had decided to do the walking circuit instead. Towards the end of the route we decided to proceed together as a foursome. Later on they became firm friends, came up stay with me in the Lake District, and later - after they had returned home introduced me to New Zealand
At the hut Steve and Tam studying the map - the 3070m Aussere Wetterspitz behindDay 4Route from Nurnbergerhutte to the DresdnerhutteFrom the hut we took a path heading North to point 2743 and continued to the 2780 Mairspitz - a good viewpoint.
Looking East from the Mairspitz to the inner and Aussere Wetterspitzen: the Simmingjochl is in the centre and the 3267m Feuerstein the snowy peak on on the RPanoramic view looking South towards the head of the Langetal - Feuerstein on the L - 3418m Wilder Freiger on the RStarting the descent to the Sulzenauhutte: the Wilde Freiger glacier on the L, the Blau Lacke beyond the hut down on the RZoomed view - looking across to the Wilder Freiger and the 3456m Wilde Pfaff. The usual route of ascent is by the ridge on the L . R of the Wilde Pfaff (but not visible in this picure - the ridge continues to the 3507m Zuckerhutl (Sugar loaf) - the highest peak in the Stubai.. These were really quite "icy" looking mountains - I wonder what they are like now - 20 years later Looking down to the Blau Lacke with the Gross Trogler on the R: our route will talke us round behind it. The glacier descending on the L is the Sulzenau ferneOur descent route headed almost South to the Grunausee below the 3050m GamspitzFrom here we traversed this lateral moraine to the Sulzenauhutte and the continued over the 2672m Belljoch to the Dresdnerhutte Dresdnerhutte modern library photographContinued in PART 2
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