Climbs In The Eastern Alps

by D. M. Moorhouse

Any young climber who reads Hermann Buhl’s Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage two or three times dreams of climbing in the Kaiser. Nowadays, when young climbers have perfected the art of making do with very limited money and with unlimited enthusiasm for the hitch-hike, climbing in the Kaiser need no longer be a dream and a visit realises the fondest hopes. If this young climber is endowed with more enthusiasm than sense and gorges himself with more than three readings, he may be tempted to the Laliderer Wall in the Karwendel. I was one of these and arrived with Nick Halls at the foot of the Wall infused with the spirit of Hermann B. and deter­mined to beat it to the ground. One route on it nearly beat us into the ground and we fled to the Kaiser, which we found was all things the Laliderer was not—and a really cheery place.

The Herzog Kante, Karwendel Group, May 1964, Grade IV+

It was our first Alpine season. We had been told it was best to go to the Eastern Alps early in the year, to the smaller and less serious training mountains. So, guided by the 1963 copy of the Alpine Climbing Club Journal, we went to the Kar­wendel, a large area in Austria directly to the north of Inns­bruck. On our map the Karwendel range looked quite small, there seemed to be a good hitch-hikeable road to it and a hut under our chosen crag, the Laliderer Wall. We left England, Nick by train with the heavy gear necessary for a six month season, I hitch-hiking with a light sack.

Our hitch-hiking road to the Wall was still snow-bound in May and in any case no cars could enter the area as it is the private hunting ground of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg. After a 7-hour walk to the hut Nick, carrying 90 lbs. of gear, arrived with blistered feet and I with a pulled Achilles tendon; luckily the winter room of the hut was open.

Next day we turned our attention to the Wall. It looked bigger than we had thought, it was in fact 2,500 feet bigger, the total height of the Laliderer is 3,000 ft. Every two or three minutes we heard an avalanche of snow and rock fall from somewhere on it. We thought this was just a normal alpine stone fall, of which we had already heard a lot. We wanted to climb the Grade VI + Nord Verschneidung, so we went to reconnoitre the start. A hundred yards from the Wall stones whistled and splintered around us and any further progress seemed certain death. We retreated to the hut disheartened by our lack of nerve in the face of a normal alpine stone fall and wondering, how any man could survive this barrage for many seasons and become a good alpine climber. We had heard that this place was a ‘Mecca’ for the hard men from Munich and Innsbruck, but we were alone at the hut.

A few hours later two very tired young Germans arrived; they told us they had made the Herzog Kante, had descended on the other side of the mountain and had taken a day and a half to walk round the range and back to the hut. This seemed odd, our description of this climb gave six hours to go up and three to four for the descent. They also said they had placed 14 extra pegs in the climb, this seemed shocking to us.

Next day we again failed to reach the foot of the Wall so we decided to lower our sights a bit and wean ourselves gently by climbing the Herzog Ridge; the stones fell mostly to either side of this and it would give us the added reward of 14 more pegs. Very early the following morning we arrived at the foot of the ridge and began to climb, but after two rope lengths we were stopped by our first problem of alpine route finding. Having tried a few desperate variants we learnt two lessons: routes that climb ridges do not always follow the crest of the ridge, and, the easiest possible way is the best. We were eventually reassured by the discovery of a peg, showing that we were on the right route; our confidence returned.

The rock was loose, in places looser than our wildest dreams and was in many places covered with soft snow. At last we arrived at the first crux pitch, a line of pegs up a steep short wall. Nick led this and belayed; I followed knocking out as many pegs as possible with my brand new, bright red, duralloy, North Wall hammer. It slipped from my hand and, hypnotised with horror, we watched it clatter and rattle down, to end in a snow patch 300 feet below. The recovery of this very precious article wasted an hour.

Next came the dance with the Gendarmes. The Gendarmes were balanced heaps of limestone dross, each about 10 ft. high and undercut by wind and frost. I led, threading the rope to left and right in the best tradition of natural protection; the movement of the rope disturbed piles of stones which roared down on either side of the ridge. [By now ice was adding to our troubles and presently the final problem revealed itself in its full horrific details; an exposed loose traverse above the abyss, leading to the foot of an overhanging ice-filled groove. To overcome this Nick became involved in a series of des-parately unstable and gymnastic acrobatics. After this the climb seemed to go on for endless rope lengths of easy loose ice-covered rock.

Eventually we made the summit and it was here that our real troubles began. The snow was deep, soft and up to our waists for the full length of our traverse of the summit ridge, while we looked for the beginning of our descent route, the Spindler Schlucht. We found that the best means of progress was crawling, so that our weight was widely distributed as we moved. Two hours of crawling up and down the ridge found us at the top of the schlucht. One look down it revealed to us why the Germans had preferred to descend on the south side and walk round the mountain. It looked more like a ‘Sas­senach-eating’ gully on the Ben than an easy descent route, as the mist swirled up from beneath the cornice.

Disheartened, we discussed the two alternatives, the gully or the long walk round. However, a decision was made for us by the increasing mist, which limited our vision to about 30 feet, so a descent of the gully became inevitable. The English guide-book description of the descent seemed to indicate no great difficulties and it reassured us a little. The decision was further supported by our blistered feet, my strained tendon and our general fatigue.

I placed a peg on the only available piece of rock, ten feet back from the cornice, and used Nick’s brand new waist line as a sling to suspend the rope down the gully. I went down first and after about 100 feet found an abseil ring on the right wall. I checked to see if the rope ran and it did so Nick came down, but this time the rope jammed. Now the brand new, bright red, duralloy north wall hammer came into its own as Nick re-ascended the gully, protected from below by me. After a gripping ascent he rearranged the ropes and abseiled down again; this time the rope did come.

Thereafter we found no more abseil rings as they were all under snow, abseil had to be made from doubtful pegs and hand-cut spikes. The problems of treating loose pegs gently, especially when descending over ice overhangs, caused a good deal of stress. There were also the worries associated with stones falling from the gully walls and the danger of being swept from an abseil position by small ice and stone ava­lanches. Luckily we were under small overhangs as the more serious avalanches went past.

Soon we had used all our available slings and had only one peg left of the seven we had removed from the ridge. Darkness overtook us and we bivouacked on a snow platform under a small overhang. Our supply of food, one packet of boiled sweets, disappeared down the gully when I moved during the night. Fortunately we had duvets with us and I got a little sleep but Nick had chosen his position badly and was hit twice on the legs with stones. In the morning we discovered that we were one abseil from the fixed iron ropes of the easy path at the foot of the gully. An hour and a half later we were back at the hut. On the afternoon of that day we saw the whole gully avalanche!

The Wilder Kaiser, Kufstein, May and June 1964

The Kaisergebirge He betwen Kufstein and Kitzbuhel in the eastern Tyrol and for a first visit to the Limestone Alps or for warming up before attempting the hard routes in the Dolomites, the Kaiser is ideal. The rock is good and, by May, free of snow; routes range from 1,000 ft. to 1,500 ft.; the approaches are generally from one to one and a half hours. There is a large number of routes within a small area, many of the best are on the “Trinity”—Fleischbank, Predig-stuhl and Totenkirchl. A base at the Stripsenjoch hut gives the best approach and the largest selection; there is a nice camping spot with water, under the joch on the east side. The quickest way to the hut and the kindest when carrying a heavy rucksack, is from the Griesner Aim car park, 1½ hours; the most beautiful is up the Kaisertal from Kufstein, 4½ hours.

Although there are many good routes in the easier grades, the Kaiser comes into its own in the climbs over Grade V. It is with the harder climbs that some guide as to what to tackle next is a great help; there is a good German guide book with illustrations and a map, some of the descriptions are a bit vague but can be supplemented with postcards showing the routes, available at the hut.

Here are comments on ten of the harder climbs I can recommend; we found them all, each with a distinct character. I have arranged them in order of difficulty to give an idea of their scope and to provide a yardstick for other routes. The gradings of some are a little lower than those given in the German guide book so as to bring them into line with modern Dolomite gradings.

(1) FLEISCHBANK OSTWAND, DULFER ROUTE. Grade IV+ . 1,200 ft.
This is a must for a first visit, it is the classic of Classics, well within the scope of any competent “severe” leader. It has an interesting rope traverse with plenty of protection and this is often a new experience for British climbers.

(2) TOTENKIRCHL WESTWAND, DULFER ROUTE. Grade V. 1,200 ft.
A good climb in a good position over one of the prettiest valleys in the area. Although the problems are similar to those of the previous climb, it is quite a bit harder, some of the pitches being hard severe.

(3) FLEISCHBANK SUDOSTWAND. Grade V+. 900 ft.
Not much harder than Dulfer Westwand but more sus­tained and with more pegs; a little mild V.S.

(4) PREDIGSTUHL NORDGIPFEL. Schüle-Diem Weg. Grade V+ to VI-. 1,000 ft.
Takes a nice corner line but is not as hard as it looks, the main difficulties are in the first half. Some mild V.S., plenty of protection.

(5) FLEISCHBANK OSTWAND. Rebitsch-Speigl Route. Grade VI-. 1,000 ft.
A first class climb on good rock, mainly free climbing, in part delicate and in part strenuous, from hard S. to V.S.

(6) FLEISCHBANK SUDOST, VERSCHNEIDUNG. Grade VI. 1,050 ft.
This takes a very good line and is excellent climbing all the way; it is more sustained than any of the previous, mainly V.S. with A.l. artificial. In hot weather it is a real sun-trap

(7) MAUKSPITZE WESTWAND. Buhl Route. Grade VI. 1,500 ft.
This climb is too far out of the way for a morning approach from the Stripsenjoch hut. To spend a day walking over the Kleine Tor Pass and bivouacking under the wall makes a nice expedition. The Maukspitze is a ‘must’ for the Buhl fans and is one of the harder climbs; interesting chimneys (desperate with rucksack) and a beautiful 150 ft. traverse on pegs and free, of V.S. British grade.

(8) PREDIGSTUHL. Nord Gipfel. Direttisima. Grade VI. 1,000 ft.
This is a good route in an excellent position and is VI for most of the way. Mainly free climbing with pitches of A.1 and A. 2 artificial, but there is ample protection. It can be likened in difficulty to the Cassin Route on the north face of the Cima Ovest di Lavaredo. Mainly V.S. with a little H.V.S.

(9) TOTENKIRCHL. Westpfeiler (Brandler). Grade VI and A.2. 1,500 ft.
This is a modern route and its main difficulties are arti­ficial climbing. As it is quite long and route finding a bit difficult in the first half, a bivouac under the wall is ad­visable; there is a good site under large boulders. Good climbing on a good wall.

and, finally, for those with the Death Wish: —

(10) FLEISCHBANK OSTWAND. Schmuck Kamin. Grade VI+. 950 ft.
This is said to be the hardest free climb on the Kaiser-gebirge; it is certainly the most serious. The line is per­fect, a vertical groove and chimney system, straight for almost 1,000 ft. It is the climb on which Hermann Buhl fell 30 metres (see his book). There are only a few words on this route in the German guide book. The first ascent was made in the 1950’s; Nick Halls and I made the 6th ascent in June 1964.
Start by following the Aschenbrenner Lucke route for three pitches until it leaves the chimney line leftwards, IV and VI—. Continue in the chimney 4 pitches to a good stand below a groove, III, IV and a little V— at the end. Climb the groove for 70 ft. (VI, 2 pegs) to a large foot­hold on the right wall and a stand peg. This is the stand below the 85 ft. crux pitch and has a very poor belay. The crux is a groove, free climbing by bridging, and is ‘mild extreme’ British standard with no protection. It ends at a good stand and a large ring peg. Above this is a short overhanging crack with very sharp rock spines, V.; the chimney eases to IV for one pitch after this. The last four rope lengths are in an overhanging chimney, very narrow and very sharp rock, V to V+, finishing on the summit ridge.

The Carlesso Sandri Route, Civetta Group. August 1965

The Civetta Group is some 20 Km. south of Cortina d’Am­pezzo in the Dolomites and at the southern end of the group lies the Cirgne di Venezia, a ‘cirque’ guarded on either flank by two great towers, on the left by the Torre Venezia and on the right by the Torre Trieste. The Trieste is the larger and dom­inates the valley with its beautiful south wall some 2,400 ft. high. On this wall is the Carlesso-Sandri route, which is one of the great classics of the Dolomites and one of the three great climbs of the Civetta. The first ascent was made in 1934 and for that time was considered a very remarkable climb. The sixth ascent was in 1956 and even in 1965 only about 60 ascents had been made. The climbing is very mixed, with hard free and technical artificial; the rock is not always good.

The weather was terrible in Chamonix in August 1965 so, in desperation, Brian Shirley and I decided to hitch-hike to the Dolomites for a week and try to make one or two good climbs in the Civetta, hoping that in the meantime the weather would pick up in the west. We had in mind the Philipp Route on the Punta Tissi, North West Wall and the Carlesso Route on the Trieste, but on arriving in the Civetta we found the weather just as bad, with snow to the screes. This eliminated the North West Wall and left the Trieste which, being a south wall, was soon free from snow.

It was very cold and overcast as we fought our way through the dwarf pines to the start. The climbing soon got hard and the English guide book was not much help in route finding. At last we found ourselves at the first terrace; from here an easy traverse to the left leads to the foot of the “Great Corner” which is over 250 ft. high and is one of the prominent features of the face. The route takes the right wall of this and is very exposed mixed climbing; above this is the second terrace and bivouac site. We arrived with plenty of time to spare and spent it improving the accommodation—so-called. The wind had risen and it was a very cold night; Brian was lucky enough to have an elephant-foot sack and before morning I was very envious.

In the morning we creaked up the first few rope lengths to the foot of what is described in the English guide book as the Crux. This is an A.3 slab; anything in the Dolomites that is two degrees less than vertical is called a slab. I was glad it was Brian’s lead but I had an anxious time watching pegs drop out as he moved off them. Not all were in place and we used some interesting combinations before overcoming this.

After the crux the description leads one to expect things to ease off before reaching easy slabs. In fact this was not so and the next section turned out to be five hard rope lengths of mainly free climbing, on the last of which I managed to bring an overhang down on myself; luckily I was second at the time. Three rope lengths up the easy slabs led to the summit chim­neys—to quote the guide book. I led the last of these and, finding a peg below a corner line, presumed that this indicated the chimneys. Brian did not seem to be progressing as fast as usual; on the next pitch in reply to my enquiries all I got was a series of ‘Sheffield grunts’, luckily impossible to interpret! I soon found out why: hard, loose and with little protection. The next pitch was harder, very loose and I only just managed to make it. Three more hard rope lengths, easing towards the end, brought us to the summit. That second day was so cold that we climbed all the time in duvets.

The descent is a real gripper when one is tired—ten abseils. We had a second bivouac, a little snow and epics with jammed ropes. At last we arrived at the Vazzoler hut and were in­formed that we had just made the fifth ascent of the “Direct Finish”, first done in 1956 by Dietrich Hasse. This route is a more serious undertaking than the Brandler-Hasse Direct on the Cima Grande or the Soldo-Conforto on the South Pillar of the Marmolata. With the Hasse finish it is very sustained climbing.