Peak 32 | Grossglockner, Austria | 3798m | 19th July 2019
- Adam Stevenson
- Jul 19, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 13, 2019
This was my first serious ascent in the #Alps. I was excited but also a little nervous about it too.
Quick Summary
• Starting point - Lucknerhus Car Park
• Route taken - Via Kals
• Total ascent - 1880 m
• Total length - 4.7 + 14 km round trip
• Total time for climb - 1¾ +10¼ hours
• Accommodation - Stüdlhütte hut
• Expense category - #High
• Equipment - #FullAlpine Gear
• Difficulty - #Level5 of 5
• Enjoyment - #5stars of 5*
Reach the highest point of Austria
Changing my order of the mountains last minute had meant that I hadn't had a chance to organize any guides for them. I had no guides set up for any of the serious ascents in the alps. I was beginning to get worried if I had made the right decision. I had been emailing and phoning around for days before I even got to Austria but it was bang in the middle of peak season and everyone was fully booked up. There was also some sort of Grossglockner event on the weekend that after I wanted to go up it. So I was told that a lot of the guides wanted to keep the week free for it.
I stayed around the base of the Grossglockner for a couple of nights at a couch-surfing host hoping that somebody would get back to me with some good news. No luck.
Deciding that my best option would be to hike up to the Stüdlhütte hut, that is about halfway up the mountain and hope to bump into someone that would let me into their group. I had no luck here either.
Going solo up the Grossglockner
19th July
The plan was then to stay here until I did find a group. However the first night I couldn't sleep at all. I just couldn't switch off from it. So when everyone else got up at 5 am. So did I. I went down and had some breakfast but I could almost sense that the other groups were talking about me in German. Maybe they were wondering if I was going up or not.
I sat there until they had all left and I was still debating with myself what to do. I decided that I would go and scout out a little further along the route.
Before I knew it I was putting my crampons on and crossing the glacier.
Id then reached the higher mountain hut of Stüdlhütte.
As I was on my own I was a lot quicker than most of the groups that were going up.
It was certainly the most adrenaline-filled day I have had on a mountain. I loved it. The views were ineradicable. But don't get me wrong it, I don't think I was in any way sensible to go up without a rope. There will not be many other people comfortable doing this.
I was so happy to get back down to the safety of the Stüdlhütte hut where the path returns to a normal trail from that point down. I felt like I had really pushed my self to reach this peak, and in many ways, that's exactly what I thrive for. That's exactly why I started this whole challenge. I had concerned my initial fears as well as the mountain, and it felt like an amazing result.
But I didn't have much time to commemorate on the day. As I was approaching the car on my return I received a message from some friends I had met on my journey. I had spontaneously just said yes to going up my first 4000m that wasn't even on my radar to do, and I needed to head straight to Italy for it...
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