Dachstein 2.996 m (8.266 ft)

Westgrat, Hüttenpfeiler: IV-

PICTURE-GALLERY

Dates:
8.5. - 11.5. 2008

Itinerary:

Day 1:

Gosausee (910m) -> Adamek hut (2.196m) = 6h (+1.286m)

Day 2:

Adamek (2.196m) -> Niedere Schreibenwand (2.496m) = 2h 30 min (+300m) route Hüttenpfeiler

Day 3:

Adamek (2.196m) -> Hoher Dachstein (2.996m) = 3h (+800m)
Climbing on Niedere Schreibenwand

Day 4:

Adamek (2.196m) -> Gosausee (910m) = 3h (-1.286m)

By clicking on pictures below, new, larger foto will pop up.

Niedere Schreibenwand with Hüttenpfeiler route. Climbing grade is set only to IV- UIAA, but it has nine lengths and is 320m long. What a challenge for two guys, who are climbing for two years and are familiar only with local rocks at Roviště, Kácov or Poříčí nad Sázavou. After reading one inspirational trip report on the internet, I started thinking about it more and more and it was just matter of time, when to climb it.

View of Dachstein from Vordere Gosausee lake. foto by © Jan Virt

Our ride to Austria was without major problems. Except for one little stop at gas station to buy highway vignette and some snacks. There are already some czech cars, at parking lot close to Vordere Gossausee, near the town Gosau. Václav starts to worry, if there still be some spot in Adamek hut winterraum, as his extreme sleeping bag to minus ten degrees is not really warm.

View back to the valley. foto by © Jan Virt

We left the parking lot at 11:30 following trail number 614. First crossroad sign shows ascend time to Adamek hut four hours. Very optimistic, according to May conditions, when the whole route is covered with snow. Rote finding became harder and the only marks were some footprints from our climbers above who left bit earlier. What took our last optimism away was sign telling us we are at height 1.550 meters. How come only 1.550m? So that meant only one thing, we still had to ascend 650m to Adamek. In a while, we catch up one older party and then another three guys.

Beautiful Schneebergwand range. foto by © Jan Virt

After while, we are finding fresh footprints from Slovak friends. Closer we were to the hut, slower we walked and after stepping on sunny terrasse, we found a relief. At the dusk, more people arrive ending with 15 total. Some of us have to sleep on terrasse, which want a big deal, with my himalayan dawn sleeping bag. Sun setting down and winter landscape creates awesome background and I fall immediately asleep.

Awesome Dachstein lime stone. foto by © Jan Virt

There was no need to hurry up following morning. We woke up at nine and at around eleven, we are standing at the beginning of the Hüttenpfeiler route, which is only five minutes from the hut. There is so much snow, that first pitch is fully covered under and we are clipping to the first belay stance. Route is not very steep, sometimes slabs, but mostly easy climbing on nice rock. It is also very well protected with bolts each five metres and bolted stances. Only equipment you need are at least seven quickdraws. Just in case, I took some hexes, but never used them. Perfect line leads us to the top, where you can either rappel down the same way or use via ferrata from the other side. We decided for rappel.

Some slabs on Hüttenpfeileru. foto by © Jan Virt

The next day we go for the summit of Dachstein. Trail across the glacier is nice, with mainly hard snow. At sunrise, we get to the beginning of Westgrat route, which is mainly via ferrata. According to amount of snow, ferrata (kletersteig), is covered in snow for most the way up. We reached the summit in about half an hour. Views from summit cross are spectacular. After while we descent to Adamek.

So summit of Dachstein was without any big problems and at the hut, we were thinking what to do with rest of the beautiful day in front of us. As I had some topos of other routes in Niedere Schreibenwand, we went through them and decided to try Blitz und Donner route, rated VI UIAA. From the bottom, route looked nice and first pitch was very easy. However, in second pitch, we encountered some problems, first, it was wet open crack, which i just was not able to climb over. As Václav did not have enough enthusiasm to try it, we decided to rappel down. Even we did not climb the route, it gave pretty good idea, how VI graded routes look like.

We spent the rest of the Saturday getting tanned on terrasse. Sunday was our last day and we descended to the parking lot. Beer at local restaurant with view on Dachstein range was just awesome.

Partners: Václav Kadlec.

PICTURE-GALLERY

Links:

Adamek hut - All about Adamek hut

Climbing around Adamek - Topos and descriptions of different routes

Dachstein weather - Actual weather forecast + webcam

Gosau wether forecast - Forecast for couple days in advance