UKC

A friend of mine is trying to persuade me to go to this region of the alps with her. From the looks of things there isn't much easy multipitch, which is what I'd normally go to the alps for really.

If I do go I'd like to have a big day out somewhere, any recommendations? Would be happy to need a reason to buy a VF lanyard so via ferratas welcome. Just nothing too out of reach as the girl is bold but relatively new to climbing.

Thanks!

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

It's a massively underrated part of the Alps with tons of big days out available.

For via ferratas, both of these are brilliant and long -

http://www.bergsteigen.com/klettersteig/tirol/stubaier-alpen/schlicker-klet...

http://www.bergsteigen.com/klettersteig/tirol/rofan-gebirge/achensee-5-gipf...

Google Translate might come in handy

There's also some good easy multi pitches on the Martinswand cliff, about 10kms west of Innsbruck. These 2 are right next to each other so you could easily do both in a day.

http://www.bergsteigen.com/klettern/tirol/karwendel/emmentaler-martinswand

http://www.bergsteigen.com/klettern/tirol/karwendel/der-flotte-dreier

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

Go up to the Berliner Hütte and take day-tours from there. A few of the mounds of choss that pass for summits have some multi-pitch at the top, complicated with icy ledges and gratuitous choss but rewarding you with a rather decent view from the top...

... if you don't get caught in a snow-storm below the summit, abort and turn around because you can't see anything anyway.

You can also walk along the Berliner Hochweg to other huts, play on glaciers and generally have a very, very good time in the hills. The DAV do maps and even have an interactive tour planner on the web... although I think it's in German - haven't used it in about a year.

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:
North Ridge of the Grundschartner? There is also lots of multi pitch listed in this guidebook http://www.markus-schwaiger.at

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

Some great v/f's in the valley around mayrhofen, ginzling, Laimach and Gerloss, search for Fascination Klettern which has topos etc as well as easy climbing areas. Brilliant walking and higher 3000m+
peaks from the huts, great beer and food, way cheaper than France. Loads of info on zillertal and mayrhofen sites.

In reply to Charlie Boscoe:

At least _some_ of the rock at the Martinswand is astonishingly polished: like porcelain.
Bu perhaps the two recommended?

Also there is a famous "test piece" via ferrata on the Martinswand
? called Kaiser Max ?
Actually sort of fun for a climber with some arm strength.
But way too hard for most non-climbers, or climber lacking substantial arm strength and the instincts for using it.

Ken

In reply to Charlie Boscoe:

Hey! Thanks for the recommendations, these look like amazing. My friend is Austrian so hopefully she can decode the topos

How serious are they as routes? Would you feel comfortable taking someone new to VF up there? I'm guessing they can be quite committing to take on should you struggle at any point?

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:
There are difficulty ratings for VF routes. So you start with easier ones, work to harder as you feel comfortable, get better at techniques.

Note that if using a normal VF kit ... and you also fall -- most likely the lanyard connection will prevent you from dying. But you can easily
still get _hurt_, perhaps injured seriously. Because the VF kit and the fixed cable will still allow you to fall a significant distance. And there are things on the routes which will hurt you badly if you hit them in a fall: notably the protruding steel cable anchor posts, but also rock horns, ledges.

Belay?
Like with many other kinds of climbing, if some member of your party does not want the risk of a fall, you can belay them with a rope (if you have and know how to reliably effectively use a belay device or other belay method)./

When Sharon comes with me on more difficult VF routes, I often bring a 16 meter rope and belay device.

Ken

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

Hi,

The four via ferratas that are on the outskirts of Mayrhofen range from the easy to the very hard and so you should be able to find something you and your friend are comfortable climbing. The newest route is for complete beginners and families and should be a gentle introduction to via ferrata. I haven't climbed it myself, but I climbed the via ferrata next to it and could see that you could finish it by doing a high ropes section in the trees if you wanted (which looked fun). A step up from that is the Klettersteig Huterlaner (I've written about it on my blog if you want to see what it looks like - https://thesevereclimber.com/2015/08/31/klettersteig-huterlaner/). You can escape this route just before a wire bridge and then walk through the woods back to the start.

The Klettersteig Huterlaner and Klettersteig Pfeilspitzwand (the other one I climbed there - https://thesevereclimber.com/2015/09/19/klettersteig-pfeilspitzwand/) are often vertical and are very exposed in places. This makes them a bit serious, but a good level of fitness and cool head around exposure will help.

None of these four via ferratas are big days out though. They are more like half a day each (less if you climb quickly and you have managed to beat the crowds).

It's not a big day out really, but I had a lot of fun climbing the Klettersteig Knorren and you can combine climbing it with a side trip to the nearby Garnet Chapel (I've written about that via ferrata too - https://thesevereclimber.com/2015/09/07/klettersteig-knorren/).

Hope that's useful.

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

I'd take a novice on the Achensee Funf Gipfel one as it is escapable at many points. The Oechenwand one is OK but pretty inescapable so might not be an ideal introduction.

In reply to Xharlie:

It's been a long time since I was there, but I remember loving the Berliner Hut, and there are quite a few things to do from it.

The Zsigmondyspitze / Feldkopf normal route was fun, if a bit scrambly. It's quite an impressive peak, and I think there are some other easy multipitch routes on it.

In reply to skog:

Yes. Zsigmondyspitze is great.