Spring days between Pitztal and Vernagthütte (2755m)

Technical difficulty: 8/10
Fitness: 9/10
Objective danger: 5-9/10 (very conditions dependent. Only do if you feel confident in making decisions on the way)
Landscape: 10/10
Busy: 4/10

First day from Pitztal to Wildspitze (3768m) through Jubiläumsgrat, Petersenspitze (3,484 m) and Vernagthütte (2755m). Second day to Fluchtkogel (3494m), Hochvernagtspitze (3539m) and through Sexenjoch to Südliche Sexengertenspitze (3424m) and back to Pitztal through Taschachhaus (2434m).

Starting point: Parking lot Mandarfen
Ending point: Parking lot Mandarfen

Day 1

Ascend: 2300vm / 8h
Exposition: All kinds

Route:
From the parking lot, start walking up the valley in the direction of Braunschweiger hütte. In the spring, you should follow the right side of the river as the summer forest road has a lot of exposure to avalanche slopes. Eventually you will reach the service road leading up the the glacier and to the Pitztal cross-country skiing track. Follow this road until you reach the Mittelber glacier at around 2600m.

From here follow the large glacier very gradually up in the south-west direction towards the summit of Schuchtkogel (3472m). You will pass the summit from the left hand side and ascend through a short steep face (up to 45 degrees) to a col. Here the Jubiläumsgrat itself starts. First ascend on skis to the summit of Kreuzerschneide (3677m) and ski down a bit further along the ridge if possible to the saddle under the north summit of Wildspitze (3757m). From here, you have to follow the ridge on foot. Pay attention, as cornices often form on the souther side of the ridge.

After the north summit, downclimb to one more small saddle before climbing up again the last few final meters to the Wildspitze (3768m) itself. With good conditions, the west coloir from the last summit is skiable, otherwise continue south-west along the ridge to the ski depot of the normal ascent route.

From here we will continue westwards towards Petersenspitze. First skiing down the glacier until possible, than skinning up again a couple of hundred meters until not very prominent summit of Petersenspitze (3484m).

A long downhill awaits you. First north-west along the ridge for a few hundred meters to Taschachhochjoch (3340m) and than through a short steep section south to get to the Vernagt glacier. You can enjoy a long beautiful downhill through the whole glacier south in the direction of Vernagthütte (2755m). Try and keep right on the downhill to save yourself some uphill meters back to the hut.

The hut is fully open for winter season from early March until the end of April and you can book it online. Outside of these times, a spacious and well-equipped winter room is available.

Day 2

Ascend: 1800vm / 8h
Exposition: All kinds

On the second day, we start up from the westwards through the valley in the direction of Fluchtkogel. (The route comes back by the hut after this summit, so consider it optional). The route to the summit follows the Guslar glacier and eventually through a short steeper coloir to the Oberes Guslarjoch (3316m). With amazing views south and west towards the huge Gepatsch glacier, continue north through the summit slope to the summit of Fluchtkogel (3494m).

Ski down the same way you went up back towards the hut. Just before the hut, you can save yourself some ascending by keeping to the left and traversing higher up on the slopes of Hintergrasleck (3170m).

After skinning up again, start walking back up the Vernagt glacier (the one you skied down yesterday). Keep north-west on the glacier, covering up quite a distance through relatively non-technical terrain. Almost the entire way is doable on skis, apart from the last few meters, that you will need to walk across on foot, towards a nice wooden cross at the summit of Hochvernagtspitze (3536m).

Walk the ridge back and ski down the glacier in South-east/east direction until the bottom of the Hochvernagtspitze summit ridge at around 3200m and start ascending again for some hundred vertical meters north to Sexegertenjoch (3300m) col. From here, you can start skiing down the Sexegerten glacier or optionally tag one more summit by going west for a couple of hundred vertical meters to the summit of Südliche Sexengertenspitze (3424m).

!!! Do this only in winters with a lot of snow as the glacier has a lot of crevasses that can be dangerous.!!!

And finally for the long downhill. Ski northwards down the glacier until you connect to the normal ascent way to Wildspitze. After the glacier ski out the very long valley north-east towards the Taschchhaus hut. From here try to read the terrain and follow the best snow. The valley back to the parking lot is over 10km long and in the spring often does not have so much snow. So ski until you can, and hike it out when you can’t ski anymore!

Photos by @the.running.nomad, @bennibru and @innsbruckalps