Mission Hochfeiler…

The motivation for an alpine tour in the Alps was still very high and so we (Liz and myself) decided  to climb the Hochfeiler peak, 3509 m over the North face and also ski down the North face… That was the plan…

Hochfeiler is the highest peak in the Zillertal Alps and stands on the borderline between Tyrol and South Tyrol. A 300 m North face with a constant 50 degree steepness, max 55 degree steepness, has to be climbed to reach the peak… At least on our planned route… It was on Liz’ and my “To-do list”, so we decided TO DO IT 😉

The changeable weather from the past weeks and also the forecast didn’t mean it to good for us but we wanted to try it. Tuesday, 5th of June had a ridge of high pressure and we hoped that it would stay like this at least until wednesday noon…

So we drove to Stein/Pfitscher valley, South Tyrol, further on the Pfitscherjoch mountain road until the parking place of the Hochfeiler hut and parked the car there. Then the uploading and repacking of all our stuff (skis, skitouring boots, food, harness, etc…) began…

Finally we had everything, so we could start with our bikes and with over 20 kg’s on our back… crazy girls ;-)…

We saved 200 hm difference in altitude of walking by bike, left our bikes in the bushes at turn 5 and started our hike to the Günther Messner Bivvy… A beautiful hike in a wonderful scenery made us nearly forget our heavy backpacks on the back… Liz left her shoes also with the bikes, so she hiked with the touring boots to save some weight… I had the boots on the back, for me it was more comfy to hike in the hiking shoes…

Liz…

Two hours later with some rests on the way, we finally arrived the bivvy at 2429 m…

The bivvy offers place for 10 people (you don’t have to bring blankets, there are some at the bivvy) but I don’t want to imagine how it’s like when it’s full 😉 There was one Polish guy up there, apart from that nobody there… Time for cooking… Melting some snow, ready-to-serve pasta and some bread… Sitting outside and enjoying the beautiful view…

It was a short, cold night… The polish guy was snoring above me, with three blankets I was freezing, it got a little better when I finally moved my a… and got two more blankets 😉 Still my bladder was reminding me that I should go to the outdoor toilet but I didn’t want to move my a… anymore 😉 So, as I said, it was a short night…

At 3 a.m. the alarm clock rang – it’s stand-up time… We stood up, made some breakfast, woke up the poor Polish guy (sorry for that but it’s IMPOSSIBLE to be quiet on 10 sqare meters…)

It took some time until we were ready to start… The sky wasn’t clear anymore, clouds had moved in, the air was quite humid but we started at around 4.15 a.m…

We had to hike a little until we could put on our touring skis and with just one break we could skin up to the first “Scharte” (no name, South of Grießscharte at 2818 m). Clouds didn’t move away but we decided to ski down to Rötkees, see how the weather changes until then…

Liz is actually a snowboard professional but also a very good skier!!!

We lost 100 meters, skinned up over Rötkees in complete fog to the next “Scharte”, along Pfitscher Grat and had to accept that the weather won’t change…

…and we knew being on a glacier with such changing conditions – it has no sense… The mountains are here longer and it’s better to play safe… A last photo on our “peak” at 2820 m, then we turned around, skied down, hiked up the colouir again, skied down to the bivvy and had a second breakfast there… It was around 9 a.m. ;-)…

The hike down was quite tough, at least for me… My back was killing me from the heavy backpack and my knee hurt because of the physical demands and the fact that my knee is quite “used” after some surgeries already… That’s why I love biking in summer… I don’t mind carrying the bike up on my back to a mountain, the fact that I can ride down is worth everything… One day later I can still feel my body  but in a positive way, no more pain, just a good feeling that we’ve done something special…

There was an italian couple sitting at the bench and couldn’t believe there eyes that two girls, with heavy packs, skis and a bike came down the mountain… So we asked them for some pictures 😉 Tante grazie 🙂

We’ll be back for sure…

THANKS a lot Liz for those great times 🙂 Looking already forward to the next adventures with you 🙂

Now it’s really time for summer… Enjoy what you’re doing 🙂

For more information about the tour… www.bergsteigen.at

Summer is here 🙂