Mitterhorn

Published on 2021-11-1 by Michael Stanton

Friends: Only God!
Location: Mitterhorn
Elevation gain: 2000m = 2000m

Fresh off the trip to the Garda Lake with Barbara, I headed back out to the Loferer Mountains for a day trip. Bad weather would be arriving in late afternoon, and it was the only chance to get high before country over 2000 meters is covered in snow that will not melt until next summer.

I began walking before dawn from the little village of Weißleiten, near the Pillersee, east of Sankt Johann in Tyrol. I soon left forested slopes for harsher ground of shattered limestone and latschen, the low and often annoying shrubs that mark all journeys in the Northern Limestone Alps.

As the sun rose, I entered a stony valley populated by gämse, who treated me in a relaxed way...moving along ahead without running. I hit a junction where one could go left for the Mitterhorn. I had a helmet and planned to use the ladders on the klettersteig at every opportunity. In time I was there, and it's true what they say, the ladders are quite wobbly, and made from a metal that one worries might well break under the weight of a modern body with access to rather too much fast food!

Despite lots of shaking, they held up. After this beautiful ascent, I stood on the summit, admiring the clouds coming in from the west, the Steinplatte below, and wide views to the Untersberg in the north and snowy peaks of the crests to the south.

Why not follow the Nurracher Höhenweg down, I thought? It would make the day much longer, but by gosh, the fall is ending, and I'll be glad I did. So indeed, I set off back down the ladders until reaching the point where I could diverge to the west and follow the crest to the next summits. It was funny, after each descent and rise, I saw that the clouds were a bit closer. Already, on the Östliche Rothorn, I saw that, aided by the flat land beneath them, clouds had raced ahead to the Untersberg west of Salzburg, and were quickly overtaking it's broad latschen-slopes on the west, and spilling over the dramatic cliffs of it's eastern side. While here, deeper in the range, I seemed to be protected by the difficulty the clouds had climbing over each mountainous obstacle. I had best hurry.

I skipped the Große Rothorn, moving about 100 meters below it's summit, intent on climbing the more dramatic Rothörndl (2395 m) which required some use of hands and offered some cables for protection. There was a rather long descent back at the saddle between the Rothorn and the Rothörndl before the route began traversing again, and from the Schaflegg (2176 m) I was alarmed to see that the clouds had crossed many kilometers while I looked away, and now were blocked only by the faltering summit of the Seehorn (Ulrichshorn) (2155 m). Hurrying somewhat, I traversed snowy ledges and soon entered a cloudbank which gave my surroundings a rather ominous appearance. I didn't much care for the frozen snow ledge traverses -- I wondered how far down one might fall!

With chilled hands I finally reached the Heimkehrererkreuz, aka the Ulrichshörndl, to be met by a young man and his dog. He asked me to take pictures of the two of them. I was relieved to be finished with technical terrain, as it had begun to rain by this point. A full thousands meters of descent awaited, and wow, it felt long and very, very steep. Eventually I emerged from the cloud and saw the somber terrain of the shadowy Pillersee and it's mournful villages in the gloom. Truly, winter is beginning.

Once down, I refilled my water (much needed) and made a tiring walk back to Weißleiten where my car sat. I said hello to a couple who walked by. They were doing the route in reverse, and we'd seen each other at the Rothorn saddle many hours before.

Sun striking the crest from deep in the Lastal: