Day 8 – Badener Hütte to Neue Prager Hütte

Our longest day on the Venediger Höhenweg, starting from the Badener Hütte, over the Löbbentörl pass, down into a glacially carved valley, and finally up to the Neue Prager Hütte.

Today will be our longest, second highest, and likely most difficult day of our tour. Breakfast was a little sparse without yogurt for muesli and cornflakes, so I used milk instead. We made sandwiches for lunch – purchased lunches for both which included a snack bar and make-your-own sandwiches from the breakfast Buffett. We departed the Badener Hütte at 8:22am.

The trail started out fairly easy – mostly level, gently climbing and descending toward the Löbentörl, a high pass we will cross over soon.

As we got closer to the Löbbentörl however, some of the stream crossings became more difficult. One was covered with a snow bridge that collapsed under me, risking falling under the snow below. I was able to immediately arrest my fall by grabbing onto rocks and then climbing out after gaining traction with my feet. Other than pride, my only injury was a scraped knee. After a minor slip-and-fall on another trip in Österreich a few years earlier, we agreed that the first priority should be to take a photo and then render aid – I was glad that Allan stuck to our agreement here.

While crossing another, the loose ground slid out from under me, and I fell. Again, I was able to arrest my fall immediately and climb back up onto the trail. Adding insult to injury, a wire strand penetrated under my skin a little later while descending on a fixed cable.

It started to sprinkle on our approach to the pass and slowly picked up to where I put the rain cover over on my pack and put on my rain jacket. As we neared the top the rain was falling more steadily and driven by the wind. The trail became progressively steeper until we reached the top and arrived at the Löbbentörl!

The big glaciers that came into view here were partially obscured by clouds and rain, making it difficult to get photos in the driving rain. We decided to seek shelter under a large rock overhang, put on another layer of clothing and enjoy a snack in this dry space. I went out a couple times to see if the weather had improved and to try to take a few photos but each time I retreated due to the wind driven rain. We saw the Kiwis approaching the pass, and we offered them some space in our “shelter”. They are on a 10-week vacation in the alps – it’s winter Down Under this time of the year.

At last, the rain stopped, the clouds began to lift, and the sun broke through!

It was much colder now in the wind. Allan wanted to get going but I wanted to take a few photos in this amazing place in beautiful light following the storm.

As I finished with photos, I noticed that Allan had gone down the trail a ways. I was slightly miffed that he left me up here with a difficult descent from the summit. I descended the summit on a fixed cable over steep and loose terrain. I noticed Allan putting on more layers and then crouching behind his pack. It became clear when I caught up that he was angry that I had taken so long, was chilled by the wind, and he complained about it with uncharacteristic profanity. We quietly descended steep terrain below the pass, crossing several small snowfields.

Eventually the rock and snow gave way to the first bits of green and flowers as we continued to descend, moving closer to the lower portion of the glacier. We made amends about the earlier incident and resumed our usual trail chatter. The trail transitioned from talus hopping and steep loose footing to a nice moraine-top cruiser.

We started making much better time here. Stopped a few times for photos. Far below was a lake at the foot of the glacier with very large ice bergs, the largest having a blue tint.

We spotted the Neue Prager hǔtte high on the mountainside on the opposite side of the valley – it will be quite a way up to get there.

The trail turned away from the glacier and continued descending above the Gletschertor stream which flows from the lake at the foot of the glacier.

I slipped and fell while moving faster down a steeper section when my heel slipped on loose rocks – got a big bruise on left rear hip but no other damage despite banging my elbow hard.

We stopped shortly after for lunch #1 on some comfortable rocks on a grassy hillside where I ate half of my sandwich and some milk chocolate. We continued down the trail to a sturdy bridge over the raging Gletschertor. This is the lowest point on the route today, 2,000ft below the hut. We began climbing steeply up large slabs of rock with good traction on the ÖAV Gletscherweg. We came to a junction with a side loop trail that I had read included a vista point and ascended less steeply than the Gletscherweg.

The trail descended to near the outflow from the lake but then veered up and climbed very steeply back up to the main trail. We stopped a little further up for lunch #2, where I finished the other half of my sandwich and ate the rest of the chocolate bar I had been working on for the past couple days.

I assessed that we had climbed up 500ft leaving another 1,500+ft remaining ahead. Rain sprinkles started again, but not strong enough for a rain jacket (and I still had my pack cover on from earlier).

After the next ~600ft of climbing up good trail we reached the Alte (old) Prager hut, which is closed.

Shortly after we stopped for a snack, and I opted for a Hammer gel over the snickers bar I bought for late afternoon. Further up the trail we decided to split up so that Allan could get to the hut earlier and try to grab a couple of more desirable beds (e.g., not top bunks). I continued up at my own pace, enjoying views of the glaciers, until finally reaching the Neue (New) Prager Hütte after another ~900ft of ascent.

After meeting Allan, I dropped off my shoes and poles in the schuhraum and went up 3 flights of stairs to our room. Noticed some mountaineering training going on outside behind the hut. Unpacked, cleaned up, and went downstairs to the dining room to wait for dinner at 19:00 (served later here than most of the other huts).

In the dining room we saw the mädchen we met yesterday, Lara and Kendra, and sat with them. We played Parchesi to kill time before dinner. We put away the incomplete game once dinner was served: fleisch (meat), potato, pasta, beets, and chocolate mousse for dessert. We played a word-guessing game for a while after dinner. Went outside for a couple of blue-hour photos.

Allan went to bed, and I stayed downstairs in the dining room. I ordered a hot chocolate and then paid the bill. Went to sleep at 11pm.