Mountaineering in the Austrian Alps

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

THIS IS NOT A WALKING EVENT. It will involve mountaineering at high altitude with an element of technical difficulty. Previous via ferrata experience is NOT essential but you will need a head for heights and scrambling skills. We won’t be doing anything desperately hard but this will still be a definite step up from the kind of activities we typically do as a group in UK mountains.

You must come properly equipped. To do via ferratas you will need to bring a climbing harness, helmet, via ferrata lanyard and a couple of slings and carabiners. For any high altitude scrambling and hiking you will need an ice axe.

Austrian Alps (Tyrol)

Meet at: Pizza & Burger, Andreas-Hofer-Straße 292, 6100 Seefeld in Tirol, Austria. The plan is to meet socially for a couple of hours on the evening of Saturday 13th June before beginning the week’s activities the following morning. We will be leaving to travel home on the morning of Saturday 20th June. Some of us will be driving and car sharing though of course others may prefer to fly. The nearest international airports are Innsbruck, Munich and Zurich. Details of various travel arrangements will appear in the comments section nearer the time.

Reaching up to the heavens and stretching for 800 miles from France to Slovenia, The Alps are one of the most famous and significant mountain ranges in the world. They hold legendary status in the annals of mountaineering history. Many of the most incredible, heroic and tragic mountaineering stories ever told played out among their lofty peaks. The section of The Alps that lies in the Tyrol region of Austria is particularly spectacular and in summer, once most of the snow has cleared from those jagged rocky summits, it becomes a veritable adventure playground for dedicated mountaineers.

Our plan is to enjoy a few big mountain days in amongst some of the many dramatic peaks and ridges in the region without entering into the realms of serious Alpine mountaineering. The Tyrol is also home to more than 400 via ferrata or klettersteig routes and this activity will be an integral part of the trip. There will also be plenty opportunity to do some scrambling and hiking. Either way the objective is to reach high altitude mountain summits in the 2,500 to 3,000 metre range. We will be looking at peaks such as Brandjochspitze, Sulzkogel, Vordere Somerwand, Zwölferkogel, Rumerspitze, Wildesmannle, Wankspitze, Urkundkolm, Großer Trögler to name a few.

Other pursuits such as rock climbing will also be on offer along with anything else you might fancy doing in this spectacular landscape.

Feel free to do what ever you want on any given day. It is common practice on these trips to split into smaller groups/pairs so everybody gets the chance to do something they are happy with.

Photos from a couple of our previous overseas mountaineering trips can be seen here:

https://www.meetup.com/sheffield-mountaineering-rock-climbing-meet/photos/32891675/

https://www.meetup.com/sheffield-mountaineering-rock-climbing-meet/photos/35402562/

Difficulty: Via ferrata of all grades, mountain scrambling of all grades and hiking at high altitude.

Experience Required: Some previous big mountain scrambling experience in the UK with our group is an essential requirement for anybody who wants to come on this trip.

Maps: Kompass Map 35 Imst Telfs Kuehtai Miemenger Kette, Kompass Map 36 Innsbruck Brenner, Kompass Map 43 Oetztaler Alpen, all 1:25,000 scale.

Guidebooks: Mountain Adventures Innsbruck published by Cicerone, Klettersteige und Leichter Fels published by Verlag Kurt Schall.

Accommodation: We will be based in and around the small town of Seefeld in Tirol which lies 18km north west of Innsbruck. A few of us have already booked an apartment there. There are many holiday apartments in this area along with other options such as chalets and campsites. These can all be found on Booking.com, Laterooms.com, Air BnB or just a general Google search.

I am asking everybody to contribute £15.00 (£10.00 for premium members) towards my expenses in planning, organising and hosting this trip which include £80+ spent on guidebooks and maps as well as seven days lost earnings from my job as a self employed gardener at my busiest time of year. Thanks so much.

Disclaimer: This is NOT a package holiday or guided tour and there is NO insurance provided. Mountaineering can be a dangerous activity and you attend entirely at your own risk. By signing up and coming to the event, you agree to all of this. We highly recommend that you take out your own insurance.