Annotated view of the Seehorn group

Seen from right below the Klostertaler Glacier. The Seehorn group is a sub-group of the Silvretta. The Sonntagspizte (2882m), in front and center, is difficult from this side, but an easy walk-up from the other. Further away to the left is Chlein Seehorn (3032m), and right behind the Sonntagspitze are Gross Seehorn (3120m) and Großlitzner (3109m), which looks like a finger sticking up in the sky. On the right hand side is the Litzner Sattel (2732m). Our destination today, the Saarbrücker Hütte, is on the other side. We are not much lower than that high pass. The easiest way to get there would be from the right. There is a trail, but it's too far away to see. The saddle looks close, but because we would first have to go down quite a lot to pick up the trail, we would then have to hike up more 400m. Instead, we followed a more interesting, but also harder (and more dangerous) route. After descending some 200 meters, we would follow a trail up to the Klosterpass (2751m), directly left of the Sonntagspitze, with Chlein Seehorn straight behind. From there, we would go off trail and traverse the steep western slopes of the Sonntagspitze to another high saddle, the Winterlücke (2832m). From there on the terrain would be easy, gentle snow covered slopes, but unfortunately we would first lose almost 200 meters again before going up to the final pass of the day, the aforementioned Litzner Saddle. All in all, the total elevation gain wasn't quite as much as the easy route, but because of the hairy traverse of the Sonntagspitze, I don't think we were less tired for it. Still, it was a scenic route. And I must admit that, once we got on the Winterlücke and I saw on the map that the Sonntagspitze was only 50 m higher, I couldn't resist to bag it as well. As I wrote above, it was an easy walk-up. 24 July 2013.