Predigtstuhl ascent

Introduction

Our second day in Seefeld had a promise of reasonably good weather and it was great to be back again after six years. The town had seen a lot of changes in that time and as a visitor, it’s not just the buildings and infrastructure that you notice. The town is busier and noisier than we have experienced before, it’s a big resort and no longer the “mountain town” it was.

Up

We got the bus from Seefeld through Leutasch and on to the Gaistal Salzbach stop at the end of the public road. We left here around 8.50 and followed the trails signposted towards the Gaistalalm further down the valley. The valley was in shadow at that time of the morning with cloud overhead, cool but not cold. We were surprised there were so few people around on such a promising day but it was nice to be in the quiet of the mountains.

We ignored a trail up to the Hammermoosalm but not long afterwards took the trail heading northwest up into a small, wooded valley. As we went higher, the temperature got warmer and the clouds started to break up. As the morning improved, the summit pyramid of the Hochwand suddenly appeared in front of us like an enormous iceberg, floating above the clouds.

We crossed the stream we had been following on an old wooden footbridge and continued on the steep footpath up through the highly scented pine trees.

It was difficult to tell how far along our path we had progressed until we emerged onto the wide dirt track marked on the map as path no 44. By now, the sun had burned off most of the cloud cover and the long ridge of the Hohe Munde on the opposite side of the valley, dominated the views as we left the trees behind.

The track was pleasantly warm in the sunshine and quite easy walking as it zig-zagged its way up the mountainside. In front of us, the huge wall of the main Wetterstein mountain ridge rose up, signifying the geographical border between Germany and Austria.

A rocky summit appeared above us.

“I think that’s our summit.” I said to Marie, pointing up to the left.

“It looks pretty rough.” She said.

“There is some scrambling to get to the summit… it’s quite easy I think.” I replied, perhaps hopefully.

We continued upwards along the track, passing grazing cattle and heading for a yellow footpath sign by a small wooden building.

At the signpost, we left the track and headed upwards on path no 12. This was a narrow, muddy path through the lush, green grass. The path itself had been churned up by the cattle wandering over the soft hillside and it was steeper than I had expected but we threaded our way between the puddles although, I did sink in once or twice.

By now, the summit cross on top of Predigtstuhl was clearly visible and we could see a figure standing next to it, an early summiteer. We were aiming for the grassy col between Predigtstuhl on our left and the footpath we were on before attempting to head towards the rock.

Once at the col, we followed the worn path up towards the rocks. The summit of the mountain looked like it had a typical rock ridge leading to the top. I had assumed that our route would scramble up the crest of the ridge but it soon became obvious we were being routed to the left side.

On our side at least, the summit ridge was flanked by steep limestone slabs but ahead of us, the slabs were contorted and broken as though they had been squashed down into broken, curved columns. It was clear that this would be our ascent route.

Marie was ahead of me and I decided to dump my rucksack by the side of the path, to make the scramble easier. By the time I caught up with her, she was already scrambling up the loose, rocky limestone slopes. It occurred to me at the time that this is Marie’s least favourite type of terrain although she was moving fast – at least it was sunny!

The man we had spotted earlier passed us on the way down from the summit and we stopped moving until he had moved out of the fall line of any rocks we might disturb.

The scrambling was not too difficult or steep and we quickly got closer to the summit cross.

Then, we were there. It was 11.45 am, 3 hours after starting out from the bus stop.

The views up and down the Gaistal valley were spectacular and full of sharp limestone peaks. The Hohe Munde with its west ridge opposite us looked huge. As did the Karkopf and the Hochwand further west down the valley. After them, we could see the grey slopes of the mountains above the town of Ehrwald.

Behind us, to the north and east, we could see the grassy alps below the main Wetterstein ridge, all the way along to the Gehrenspitze.

A feint sound of music carried to our ears on the breeze.

That must be from the Zugspitze.” I decided, pointing to the angular metallic structures on the barren slopes of the mountains to the northwest, just over the border in Germany. The highest mountain in Germany is open Summer and Winter.

The vivid summer mountain colours of blue skies and green grass contrasted perfectly with the grey and honey coloured limestone mountains. This part of Austria can be stunning and has lots to offer the adventurous walkers.

I looked northwards from the summit to see if there was a route coming directly up the spine of the ridge. I couldn’t see any obvious signs but I imagine it would be possible to do if anyone wanted to find an alternative way up.

Down

It was beautiful sitting on the summit in the sunshine with the whole world below us but after a while, we knew we had to leave.

We descended the loose slopes slowly. Extra care was needed on the loose gravelly, runnels where it would be easy to slip but going down usually passes quicker than you expect and soon we were leaving the rock for the gentler, earthen path.

We passed a dutchman who was just ascending and had a chat with him about the conditions above before collecting my rucksack and descending to stop for some lunch on the bench back at the grassy col. Thankfully, the cattle had moved on!

After lunch, we retraced our steps back down to the dirt track (path no 44) - passing more people who were ascending now - then headed eastwards, up towards the Rotmoosalm. I had it in my head that we would continue all the way onwards to the Wettersteinhutte but that would have been too far and Marie sensibly vetoed that idea! We stopped at the Rotmoosalm for some Topfelstrudl and Coke instead.

We left the hutte around 2.25 pm and headed eastwards down a steep, rough path beneath the Wetterstein ridge and down into the Sulzlehn. This route was rougher than I had expected. It was clear that the path had been disrupted by several rock falls during the Winter - Spring thaw and it was newly made in these places. We kept going in the increasing heat and I was looking for the dirt track marked on my map as path no 41 which descended easily to the Hammermoosalm.

Somehow, I managed to miss it and instead, we found ourselves on the steeper direct route down by the banks of the Salzbach. By the time I realised this, there was no point in climbing back up so we continued down, thank goodness for the Coke and Topfelstrudl!

We emerged at the bus stop around 4.30 pm, tired but pleased with our first mountain day and in plenty of time for the bus at 5.18 pm.

A fantastic day with fabulous views all around. This really is a peak to do in good weather, start early to miss the heat and the crowds and try to get the summit to yourselves!