Technical difficulty: 3/10
Fitness: 2/10
Objective danger: 2/10
Landscape: 5/10
Busy: 7/10

A great and relatively easy skimo tour to a summit of Pirchkogel in Kühtai. Half on ski slopes, half in open terrain. Great for early in the season and doable also with little snow.

Starting point: Kühtai
Ascend: 900vm / 2h
Exposition: South-east

Route:

Starting from Kühtai in the Stubai Alps, the Pirchkogel is a popular destination for ski touring. For some, it's a joy, while for others, it's a downside that the initial part of the tour goes through a ski resort. One clear advantage of this location is that the tour is possible even with little snow, and less skilled skiers can comfortably ascend or descend on groomed slopes. If you prefer an easy start, you can take the Kaiser lift to the upper end of the ski resort. The further climb, with some parts having a steepness of around 30 degrees, leads to the summit of the scenic Pirchkogel (2828m) and should take about an hour with some effort.

Ascent:
We start the ascend on the ski slopes of Kühtai on the northern side of the valley. You can choose your own adventure here, as long as you get to the top station of the Kaiserbahn (the Kaiser lift). You have multiple options here, some following the steep slopes straight up, others a bit gentler and longer.

At the mountain station of the Kaiser lift, we reach a flatter area. To the left, we can see a nice saddle between Vorderer and Hinterer Grieskogel, which is also a nice and easy option for extra descent. For our summit, we continue north towards the slope right of the Hinterer Grieskogel.

Numerous tracks run down the slope below the Hinterer Grieskogel, which is where we will ascend. It gets increasingly steeper. Behind us, the view extends over the Sellrain to the peaks of the Tuxer Alps. We have to grit our teeth up the steep slope to an altitude of about 2700 meters, then the track switches to the northeast. Afterwards, the ascent continues at a gentler gradient up to the summit of the Pirchkogel.

The summit cross is situated a bit north of the actual summit, high above the Inn valley, with the Mieminger range in the background. To the east, beyond the rocky Irzwände, the Rietzer Grieskogel is visible. The view to the south is dominated by the Zwölferkogel over the ski slopes of Kühtai. To the west, the Inn valley continues and is bordered by the Tschirgant and the entrance to the Pitztal.

Descent:
The descent in the upper area roughly follows the ascent route, but the open terrain obviously offers a lot of room for creativity. The descent in the lower area leads us back to the starting point via the existing ski slopes.

Photos by @the.running.nomad, @bennibru, @sontschi2604 and @joerg.zenkel