The Plan
The original plan was to do a two-day tour to the Wildspitze with the youth group from the Alpine Club in Innsbruck. However, there wasn't really a concrete plan yet, and the avalanche situation throughout Tyrol didn't make planning any easier. Magda then suggested starting one day earlier for everyone who already had time. That made the planning even more complicated, as we didn't want to split up the group. So the rough idea was to ascend to the Brandenburgerhaus from the Kaunertal and meet the rest of the group at either the Breslauerhütte or the Taschachhaus the following day. What we still hadn't figured out was which route would be reasonable at avalanche danger level 3. In the end, we decided to take the bus into the Kaunertal, ascend from there via the Gepatschferner to the Rauhekopfhütte, and then continue across the glacier to the Brandenburgerhaus. We clearly communicated beforehand that this was an attempt and that we would have to remain flexible because of the avalanche situation.
Approach to the Brandenburgerhaus
Magda, Luca, Maxi and I start in Innsbruck shortly before 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Two hours later, we get off the packed ski bus and put on our skis. At first, the route leads fairly flat into the valley, but it is still quite exposed to avalanches, as there are extremely steep slopes above the valley floor. So we keep moving quickly and reach the Gepatschferner after about an hour, where we take a short break in a glacier cave and rope up. Afterwards, we continue towards the Rauhekopfhütte, take off the rope again and find our way through the rocky ridge leading up to the hut.
One or two tricky sections later, we arrive at the Rauhekopfhütte. It's a rustic little hut that doesn't have a separate winter room, but instead remains completely open in winter, meaning you can access the entire hut. We take another short break and admire the icefall down in the valley from above. Time to keep going! We traverse back onto the glacier before an endlessly long glacier slog begins. We're also slowly starting to feel the altitude, as we're now at almost 3,000 m. After what feels like an eternity, we finally reach the Brandenburgerhaus. The last few metres up to the hut are exhausting again, as we have to carry our skis. We settle into the winter room. Magda and Maxi quickly head up to the summit of the Dahmannspitze behind the hut. Luca and I take care of making a fire and melting snow and are delighted to discover that the two radiators are connected to the wood-burning stove and the winter room suddenly gets properly warm. In the afternoon, another group of two arrives. We cook together in the evening, and Luca gets some material from them to replace his lost ski pole basket. We eat, chat and then go to bed early, as we have to get up early the next day.
Brandenburgerhaus – Wildspitze
In the morning, we finally see the message from the others telling us that they aren't heading towards the Wildspitze after all, but have decided to go to the Winnebachseehütte in the Ötztal instead. A short discussion, and we decide to head straight for the Wildspitze and figure out the rest from there ...
We set off fairly quickly towards the Fluchtkogel to warm ourselves up. The snow is hard-packed, and on the glacier we constantly hear "whumpf" sounds, reminding us again and again that we should be very careful on the descent. From the Fluchtkogel, we watch the caravans of roped parties making their way from the Vernagthütte towards the Wildspitze. Luckily, we're far behind them and there's no danger of catching up anytime soon and getting stuck in a traffic jam. The first col we ski down from the Fluchtkogel is well tracked and hard-packed by the wind, so we can ski it one at a time without too much concern. Who would have thought – down below, a perfect powder slope is actually waiting for us.
We ski down to the Vernagthütte, where we take a short snack break and have a Coke. Then it's time for yet another glacier slog, with the sun beating down on our heads. We cross the Vernagtferner and aim for the Brochkogeljoch. With lots of small kick turns, we make progress faster than expected. Only for the last few metres do we have to carry our skis up into the col, which is pretty exhausting in the slushy snow. An hour later, we reach the ski depot, put on our crampons and start climbing towards the highest summit in Tyrol. We watch a group ski down the south face. It would be a dream descent, but we had already decided on the northern descent into the Pitztal, and none of the four of us knows the route through the south face. So we continue all the way to the summit. A quick photo, and then it's back down to the ski depot.
Descent into the Pitztal
We quickly check when the next ski bus from the Pitztal to Ötztal-Bahnhof leaves and suddenly we're in a rush! The last bus leaves in an hour and we still have almost 2,000 vertical metres to descend. On the descent, which is fairly steep throughout, we still manage to find a bit of untracked snow! At the end, we continue through the seemingly endless Taschachtal until we reach the valley station of the Pitztal Glacier. We just manage to squeeze onto the bus with the crowds of tourists and are all a little more exhausted than expected. From Ötztal-Bahnhof, we take the train back to Innsbruck. Two perfect days in the mountains come to an end.
Conclusion
A super cool alternative to the classic ski tours on the Wildspitze. We were all surprised by the perfect ski slopes on the descent from the Fluchtkogel to the Vernagthütte. Even though everything worked out perfectly in the end, this route has two or three key sections that you definitely need to keep in mind and that require you to remain flexible. The steep approach to the Rauhekopfhütte, the descent to the Vernagthütte through the Oberes Guslarjoch and the ascent to the Brochkogeljoch are all sections that shouldn't be underestimated. We were aware of these sections beforehand and had also prepared ourselves for the possibility that we might have to turn around on the very first day.
Equipment
- standard ski touring equipment
- standard glacier mountaineering equipment
- gas stove as a backup for the winter room
- hut sleeping bag
