Grossglockner 7-day mountaineering trip

Day 1: Meeting at the foot of the mountain

Early in the afternoon, we’ll meet for the climb in Hinterbichl, which is a little village at the foot of Grossvenediger.

Day 2: Meeting at the foot of the mountain and walking to Defreggerhaus (2962 m)

After breakfast, you can “cheat” the first half of the long hike up by taking the “Venediger Taxi” – a van service most climbers resort to – up to Johannishütte at 2121 meters. On this day there’ll be no glacier walking. From Johannishütte it’s a pretty walk up on the alpine hillside. The hike is moderately difficult; you should make it to Defreggerhaus in 2.5-3 hours. We’ll do an ice basics course and test our equipment on the glacier.

Day 3: Climbing Grossvenediger (3666 m), descent to Johannishütte

We will get up at dawn and ascent 700 vertical meters to reach Austria’s 4th highest peak.

We’ll start the ascent with headlamps on in the dark on a rocky trail. After about 30 minutes, we’ll enter the glacier. I will rope you up and you will put your crampons on. However, you may start to feel fatigue, because you’re above 3000 meters. Don’t be afraid if you experience a small headache – it’s normal, but it’s important that you tell me about it.

After a 2.5-3 hour climb, we’ll be on a narrow ridge leading to the summit. This is the region’s second tallest mountain, topped only by Grossglockner. In fact, we’ll have an awesome view of Grossglockner to the east and it is our next target after this peak. After summiting, we’ll descend to Defreggerhaus for a rest.

It’s quite likely that we’ll be in time to walk back to Johannishütte (1-1.5 hour walk down) which is more comfy than Defregger with better food and the chance of a hot shower.

Day 4: Descent to the valley

We should get up at around 8-8:30 and take the taxi down to the valley to say goodbye to these magnificent mountains. We’ll sleep in or around Kals.

Day 5: Hiking to Stüdlhütte, 2802 m

We should get up at 8:00 and take a drive up to the parking space of Lücknerhaus.

We’ll start walking at 2,200 meters and will need to tackle a vertical of 600 meters to get to one of the most modern huts in the Alps. This will take about 1.5-2.5 hours. An indoor climbing wall and great cuisine await us at the hut.

We’ll need to go to bed early, as we’ll leave quite early in the morning.

I cannot guarantee that you’ll have accommodation in Stüdlhütte. You need to book very early (at least 2 months in advance) to make sure you do. Still, if there are no free beds at Stüdlhütte, we can sleep at another hut closeby, Adlersruhe.

Day 6: Summiting Grossglockner, 3,798 m

After an overnight stay and breakfast we’ll start at around 5:00 from Stüdlhütte across the Koednitzkees glacier to Erzherzog-Johann-Hütte (3.454 m, 2.5 hours).

We’ll climb up to the summit of Grossglockner at 12:00 to 13:00 ( 1,5 hours).

Enjoying the panoramic view from the top,  we’ll descend the same route back.

At about 18:00 we will be back at the Stüdlhütte. We’ll celebrate at the hut in the evening!

Day 7: Descending down to the valley

Walk back down to the parking lot – it shouldn’t take much longer than an hour.