Day 5 – Wallhorntörl tour

After breakfast in the Eisseehütte we purchased lunches with sandwiches, a snack, and an apfel (apple). We went back up to our room to relocate our stuff to another room since I couldn’t get the private room for the two nights. We moved to Lager Drei (room three) where we had a separate pair of bunk beds (even though they called this a matratzenlager) – I took the lower, and Allan the upper.

We retraced the trail over from the Eisseehütte to the junction with the Zopatscharte, where we crossed the Timmelbach and then turned right for the Wallhorner Törl.

We headed up, following the Timmelbach stream at first, and then the trail began to climb steeply. The sun was out today and the temperature warmer, so we shed layers early on.

We hiked up a series of switchbacks, from where we could see the Eissee. We stopped at the base of the first snowfield for a snack and chocolate, and I put on my gaiters. We crossed the first of several snowfields and continued to ascend steeply. We saw the Törl (pass) clearly from a plateau and could just barely see people up there. We passed around a small tarn that appeared to be snowmelt from large surrounding snowfields and hiked up another snowfield.

The trail began climbing steeply from here occasionally crossing more snowfields, the last of which we probably should have had our spikes on for traction.

Shortly after, we reached the Törl (pass)! As soon as we reached the crest a world of glaciers filled the view. There were no clouds obscuring the peaks today, and the 12,000ft Großvenediger topped the view from here.

We could see the Defreggerhaus on the other side of the glacier below us, which, built in 1887, is one of the oldest and highest in the Eastern alps and a popular base for climbs up to the Großvenediger.

We could see peaks off in the distance in Italy, in the Dolomite range, over the Lasörlinggruppe across the Virgental valley.

We could also clearly see the Kreuzspitz which we summited 2 days earlier. We ate half of our sandwiches and Allan laid down to relax/nap, and I explored the immediate area.

We debated whether to climb the 3,300m Weißspitze and decided to take the trail over to check it out. This trail climbed steeply away from the Törl.

We reached the junction to the Weißspitze, but decided not to go for the summit as we had at this point climbed only 200 of the 1,000 feet remaining to the summit. Instead, we followed somewhat of a trail that climbed steeply up and over a ridge with a view out over the Garaneberkees glacier.

From here we could see a party struggling to cross the upper part of the glacier on their way up the Weißspitze, and they turned back – confirming our decision not to attempt it. The views from here were stunning, where we were able to see the Simony range of peaks and glaciers that dominated the view at the Essener Rostocker hütte.

From here we could see peaks in Italy off on the distance to the south behind the Lasörling group.

We crossed a snowfield and began a long slog of talus hopping our way down toward the Eissee over a thousand feet below.

We made it down to a saddle but then the route (not really a trail so much as a route marked periodically with red and white blazes) climbed up and behind a taller peak next to the Seewandsee peak. The “trail” continued up through a short section with some exposure (a cable would have been nice here). We ended up on a small plateau with the summit cross on the Seewandspitze in front of us. We checked out the cross and then headed back to find the trail that would take us down to the Eissee.

Descending from the Seewandspitze the trail was steep but in good shape to walk down without any drama. It was as if they had engineered the trail to the maximum grade on which one could walk and maintain traction. Halfway down, however, this changed as the trail changed to loose dirt and rocks that became difficult to walk or step down without slipping. It became a struggle to remain upright while slipping and sliding with nearly every step. Near the bottom I slipped and fell on the last step of the last snowfield. I had had enough of this crap. Allan wanted to stop and eat a snack, but I refused until we reached the Eissee where we would be free from any more difficulties. The trail meandered down, sometimes over yet more talus and often was no more than a periodic blaze of white and red on a rock.

And then I just happened to notice some Edelweiss along the trail!

Allan was lounging on a nearby rock, oblivious to the amazing restorative powers of the elusive Edelweiß. When I reached him, I realized this is where we were yesterday, and the crappy trail conditions were now behind us! It was too cold in the wind here for me to sit here, so we descended a little further and then stopped so I could eat my apfel. A solo hiker passed us earlier on her way up to the Seewandspitze as we had just come down, and she caught back up to us here and passed by on her way down to the hütte for dinner. We climbed up through some talus before topping out on a grassy rise – real Sound of Music vibe here. On the way back down to the hut I stopped Allan for a photo, and the other hiker caught up and offered to take a photo of us together.

After thanking her it was a short walk down to the hut. We changed into our hut shoes in the schuhraum (which was just along the wall outside the dining room) and went upstairs to unpack our sleeping gear (sleeping liner, headlamp, battery charger, et al) and get our bedding setup for the night.

The hut mistress came around informing us all that dinner was starting now (a half hour earlier than usual, at 5:30 vs 6pm). We sat with a German couple that could not speak English, so we did not interact much with them. Dinner was nudelsuppe (noodle soup), zweibelrostbraten (roast beef with roasted onions), spätzle (noodles), and joghurt (yogurt) for dessert. After dinner Allan and I played a game like Yahtzee but couldn’t understand the German rulebook, so we made our own rules. One game of that was enough. We went outside briefly to check out the view, but it was too cold to stay out there for more than a minute. Allan went to bed, and I stayed down in the restaurant for another hour or so.