Wilder Kaiser: Schönwetterfensterl skitour - Mar 19

Martin has been watching Wilder Kaiser skitour activites since early January this year, when the first report about Kaiserexpress skitour came to his attention. We hiked for 2 days around Ackerspitze the last year, beatuful sceneries, plenty of scrambling.

We booked Fritz-Pflaum hütte for one night with plan to do at least one skitour in the Griesnar kar (it’s cirque). The toll road is still closed until end of the month, we had to take a shuttle bus to Griesner Alm (they open the gate only for guests in the Alm). We put our skis on at 6pm. There was around one hour of light left and around meter of snow in the valley. As we went up through the forest, the darkness settled down. The snow was heavy, sometimes icy. The moon was in its full phase day before, we were hoping to have good light later in the night. It took us 2:30 hours to get to the hut. When we enquired about availabilitz at the hut, we were told that another group will be there too. Yet, when we arrived the hut was closed. We opened it up, got the fire going and it quickly became cozy. As the moon got higher, it shined to our valley and we finally could see the mountains around us. The skies were clear and the scenery unforgettable. We basically fell in love with that little hut. Many thanks to those who take care of it!

We woke up at 6 am in the morning to watch the sunrise and left the hut shortly after 8 am. There was only one fellow ski touring enthusiast going our direction before us. Our group divided at the hut, our friends were going later to Regalspitze and we to the Schönwetterfensterl. As soon as we reach the couloir, we put the skis on our back and continued on foot. There were some footsteps already, as this is a popular destination. However, to Danka it seemed only tall people went up, as she sometimes couldn’t reach the steps and had to kick in her own.

We understand the meaning of the name Schönwetterfensterl now. The views are breathtaking up there. We had clear sky, amazing visibility. The descent was pretty exciting, snow was hard but not icy with powder below the couloir. The ski descent is little challenging but good overall. Both of us enjoyed it. We rested at the hut, it was indeed very warm. We also noticed some new snow slabs.

Skiing further down from the hut was harder as sun was hitting most of the valley. Slushy, heavy snow with hard snowballs hidden from older avalanches. We stop at the Greisner alm and used our vouchers from the shuttle for refreshments. We asked about the parking arrangements and why only house guests are allowed to bring their cars up despite of many available spaces. Apparently, the Gemeinde makes the rules. But the lift is great, the employees at the alm are very friendly. There is no need to take the shuttle from the Geisner Alm to the parking lot, it is possible to ski down. Be prepared to skate a lot though. Overall, definitely recommended and we will be coming back.

Schönwetterfensterl skitour with friends - Mar 19

Tour info

Drive

1:20 hours

Start

Parking lot at Parkplatz Kaiserbachtal (Toll station), free. You need to either skin the valley or take the shuttle (5 euros - voucher, get 3 euros to spend in Griesener Alm).

Ascent

around 2 hours to Fritz-Pflaum hütte. Couloirs around within 1 hour skitour from the hütte

Activity view

1. day

Griesner Alm - Fritz-Pflaum hütte

2. day

Fritz-Pflaum hütte - Schönwetterfensterl

Fritz-Pflaum hütte - Griesner Alm