Venediger Hoehenweg On Stubacher Sonnblick

Rating The Route By Hiking Standards

0. General. From Karl-Fuerst-Huette, 2629m to 3088m. Prevailing exposition: west and south. Tis route crosses the west-oriented glacier on its lower part, where it is not so steep. But early in the morning it can be still hard and require attention (and equipment). From Granatscharte you finally scramble over the SE slope to the top or easilly climb (UIAA II/I) by the South ridge. Gear: Crampons, ice pick, rope. Tis route is easier than St. Poeltner Weg.

1. Effort. Cca 500m, 2:30 hours.

2. Power. 2 – easy. Easy climbing (if going on top by the S ridge). Otherwise easy scramble.

3. Psyche. 3 – medium. Take care on the glacier if it is hard. If going on top by the S ridge, the degree would be 4.

4. Orientation. 2 – easy. Some attention on the glacier and when finding the SE summit ascent entry.

Getting There

See the main page how to reach Karl-Fuerst-Huette! 3:30h-4:00h till there, good marked.

Route Description

East of the hut two paths continue in the eastern direction, towards Stubacher Sonnblick. We choose the lower (southern) path. It goes around the edge with the toilet hut and then descends a little into a shallow valley below the main crest. There we usually (in july) hit the first snow, so we put up crampons and rope-up. Later in summer this part of the route is snowless, so we just follow big marks in the eastern direction, gaining slowly altitude. This way the route leads us over steep terraces above Praegrat-Wand (steep walls below) and the glacier above – actually we cross the glacier in its lower part where it is not so steep. Leaving the last rocks with big red marks, right of a dark, icy part of the glacier we are high enough to start turning leftwards and up. Now only a gentle glacier without crevasses stretches ahead of us and we soon reach Granatscharte, 2970m.

If we continue the ascent by the South ridge of Stubacher Sonnblick, we can touch its rocks just on the saddle, or also a bit later, on the Eastern side of the ridge. In any case we ascend to the rocks on top of the first part of the ridge, there it becomes narrow and requires easy climbing. Tis part of the ascent is also not marked, so we must seek passages ourselves. On the other side, on a short descent, a vertical step awaits us, the best advice is, to prepare on a narrow ledge one meter lower and simply jump down on a broad plate below. Climbing down would be also possible, but much harder. If you're not a »jumper« the detour right down would mean descending considerably, so finally you would find yourself on the South-East approach route. The rest of the ridge is simpler, but it still requires some more easy climbing (UIAA I. degree).

If not going by the South ridge, we go by the glacier right of it until we reach the South-East slope of Stubacher Sonnblick where this one is least steep. Also here we shall not see any marks nor ciarns, but a tiny path and good passages are easy to find. Over a steep slope we scramble up and lightly towards the right, allways looking the big cross on the summit.

Images

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