Hoher Angelus - Vertainspitze Traverse

After a day of hiking around the Stelvio Pass with climbs of both Monte Scorluzzo and Roetlspitz we were ready for the next step in our climbing week: The traverse of Hoher Angelus (3521m) and Vertainspitze (3545m). I was really looking forward to this route, with a special thanks to sp-members rgg and alpinbeta, who both noticed me about this route. We wanted to do the climb in two days: The first day we would ascent to the Dusseldorfer Hut from Sulden and on the second day we would make the traverse and return to Sulden.

After a (very) rainy first day we managed to get to the Hut in the afternoon. We were soaked, but happy to be there. In the afternoon the weather cleared, giving us awesome views towards Koenigspitze, Monte Zebru and Ortler. After a good meal and some beers we went to bed early to make an early start. We ascended Hoher angelus along the Reinstadler, Normal route. The climb was fun, a combination of rock , snow and a short Via Ferrata. On the summit we didn’t have any views at all. From the summit we descended to the Angelusscharte, crossed the Laaser Ferner glacier in a whiteout and went on to the summit of Vertainspitze with again, no views at all.

Still, we were happy to climb both summits and the route was fun. We descended back into the Rosimtal and finally, below 2500 meters we could see for more than 20 meters in front of us. We descended back to Kanzel and took the chairlift back down. Despite the weather, it was a fine Alpine tour and good acclimatisation for the Ortler traverse later that week.