Großglockner Stüdlgrat | 11/07/2024

Initially, we wanted to do the northwest ridge. There was still a decent amount of snow/ice in the couloir; however, it rained the evening before and didn't freeze overnight. This made us decide to go for the more popular Stüdlgrat instead. We left the Stüdlhütte at five in the morning with some other teams. We approached to the glacier, pulled out the rope and advanced to the start of the ridge. Initially this is some awkward climbing but there are enough iron poles to use as protection (or aid ;) ). The rope teams spread out quickly and we never had to overtake or got overtaken, which made for an enjoyable climb.

We quickly made our way up to Frühstücksplatz. Here the main difficulties start. Some parts have fixed cables for easy progression. I initially always tried to freeclimb, but as 'efficiency = safety' in the mountains, I didn't spend too much time looking around. I can, however, confirm that everything is freeclimbable, as Jitse managed to do exactly that! :)

After a little over four hours of climbing, we safely made it to the summit of the highest mountain in Austria, twelve years after climbing it with a guide via the normal route.

The descent was one long queue of people, but luckily it didn't take too long before we reached the end of the ridge and could advance more quickly through the snow couloir and over the glacier to the Erzherzog-Johann Hütte. After a nice Nudelsuppe, we further descended towards the Stüdlhütte where a delicious Kaiserschmarrn awaited us!

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