A Random Walk in the European Alps

The Grossglockner (3798m) in the Hohe Tauern (Osttirol, Carinthia, Salzburg) mountain range is not only the highest mountain in Austria, it is also one of the most sought for of all the many high mountains in Austria. Each year, thousands of mountaineers from Austria, Germany, Italy and increasingly from Central and Eastern Europe are aspiring to summit this mountain with its small, rocky peak towering above the gorgeous glaciers of the Pasterze basin (itself the largest glacier of Austria).

Indeed there are so many mountaineers climbing to the summit of the Grossglockner that almot every summer discussions arise about somehow ‘managing’ the traffic jams caused by the crowds at the narrow and exposed cruxes just beneath the summit. These crowds more than the objective difficulties itself make the Grossglockner to one of the more accident-prone mountains of Austria with quite a couple of fatalities each year.

According to estimates by the Austrian Alpine Club (based upon sample counts on the different routes) about 8000 mountaineers are summiting the Grossglockner each year of which 5000 mountaineers are climbing during the summer months. Especially at weekends and during certain summer holidays (e.g. August, 15) ‘traffic jams’ alongside the narrow ridge just beneath the summit are causing significant delays. Mountaineers trapped in these traffic jams risk of getting in serious dangers especially when bad weather is rolling in.

Of course, the Grossglockner and its surrounding regions offer so many different possibilities for mountaineers (as well as for hikers, or just sight-seers and automobile tourists) that one blog post is definitely too short to give a comprehensive overview. Hence, I will start a mini-series of Grossglockner-related posts covering some facts and stories about this majestic peak in the Eastern Alps. Up to date, I have climbed the Grossglockner three times plus I did some ice climbing and ski mountaineering in the region as well. Hence, I attempt to give some honest assessments about the risks and rewards of climbing this mountain based upon first-hand experience.

Railways played a crucial role for the diffusion of Alpinism in Europe. In the 19th century only railways allowed a wider publicum to travel the large distances from the urban areas in Europe to the Alps. The first true mountain railway happened to be in Eastern Austria crossing the Semmering Pass (982m) as part of the greater link between Vienna and Triest in the Adriatic. Soon the number of travellers to the mountains around the Semmering Pass increased dramatically.

Learning from the engineering lessons of the Semmering railway more and more mountain railways started to connect the remote corners of the Alps with the urban centres. Read more about this pioneering railway of the 19th century …

Semmering Railway. The World’s First High Mountain Railway

Recently I got an invitation to visit Kufstein in Tyrol. Kufstein is a nice provincial town and serves as the entry point to the Wilder Kaiser (2344m), a rocky landmark massif North of the famous winter sports town of Kitzbühel. The many peaks of this limestone massif offer countless rock climbing opportunities of all varieties. Well protected sport routes, base climbs and scary and dangerous alpine climbing routes with virtual no protection are all on offer.

The region is famous in the Alpine rock climbing community because it was there, where the late Reinhard Karl and Helmut Kiene opened a new Alpine route (Pumprisse, Fleischbankpfeiler and scaled it at difficulty level VII (UIAA). This was almost a sacrilege in the then very conservative community of Alpine rock climbers in central Europe which had declared the maximum level of difficulty for Alpine routes at VI.

My friend Manfred is an experienced climber and a busy member of the local climbing community. Hence, I was really happy to have him as my climbing buddy. We chose to do a short albeit really fine route named Via Gabriella in the North Face of the Scheffauer, a secondary peak of the Wilder Kaiser massif.

Scheffauer North Face, Wilder Kaiser

The Via Gabriella (diff. V+ UIIA) goes over four pitches and offers mostly slab climbing in fantastic limestone. In the middle of this well protected (bolt) climbing route is a fun overhang which needs some interesting moves. Luckily for me it was Manfred who led the pitch with the overhang.

Via Gabriella (topo), Wilder Kaiser

Two Bavarian Climbers in the Via Gabriella, Wilder Kaiser