Day 1: OetscherGraeben
The first day we drove from Vienna West and then South into the foothills that make up alot of Eastern Austria. These are not mountains really, but significant enough that they don't have any real developed roadways. Austria is a network of villages, and so we patched the network together to our first objective, the Blue Box canyon near the village of Erlaufboden in the Oetscher region, just North of Maria Zell. This seemed to have some of the longer routes in the area, and we were hoping that the mild weather that the alps had seen in the previous weeks would yield at least some ice in the higher hillier regions.
We found the place easily enough, and did the 20 minute hike into the Blue Box, passing a few smaller and lean flows (not in) on the way. There was one other party there, top-roping a short WI2 pitch, but none of the multi-pitch routes were really in any leadable shape. The ice was very thin. After contemplating joining the others on the large curtain of ice, we instead went off to the right, where I lead a very thin WI3 pitch (picture above left). I belayed Summer up, and we V-threaded off. The other party had left by this time, so we went over to the curtain and bouldered around for 20 minutes (picture above right). But in general, we were disappointed with the temperatures and the quantity of ice. We headed back to the car, and down to Maria Zell for some dinner. That night, we continued on to Katschberg, passing from the Oberoesterreich province into Steiermark. We found a place in town that was pretty damn wierd: a very smoky locals-only bar, and indoor bowling in an inn. Whatever, it was cheap.
A foreshortened view of Atlantis, outside of the town of Rottenmann
The B&B we stayed in in Bad Aussee three of the nights of our trip. Bad Aussee proved to be an adequate base for the climbs we did, where objectives were no more than an hour drive away. We had initially planned on staying in youth hostels, but found that they are chock full during Christmas season. The manager of the hostel recommended we try this B&B however, and at 18 Euros a night it was actually cheaper than the hostel! With the ski conditions as bad as they were at Christmastime this year, its not surprising we were able to find a place to stay. However, in a better season I would make reservations in advance.
Day 2: Atlantis
We left Katschberg after getting some eats at the Billa grocery store, and made our way to the town of Rottenmann, which is overseen by a medieval castle. This castle is in pretty good shape (whereas some in Austria are just ruins now), and is really inspiring. Its difficult to imagine what life was like 1000 years ago in feudal Europe, but these ancient buildings, with their prominent positions still evoke a sense of strength and power. The small temperature sensor in the Opel rental car said the temperatures outside were -13C, which was the coldest we saw all trip. The route we were looking for was named Atlantis, and had a supposedly negligable approach and was 3+ pitches long, culminating in a pitch of WI4. We found the route easily enough, but it didnt really look 3 full ropelengths long from the base, and the ice was pretty low angle. We headed up anyway. Summer had a hard time crossing the creek initially, but we finally headed up, soloing the first "pitch" of WI2 easily. At the top of this pitch we found a bolt belay, and Summer decided to lead the next pitch, which went at WI2 again. I took the final lead, climbing wet and chandeliered ice to the top. We then TRed the main pillar a few times before rapelling.
Alex leading the crux pitch of Atlantis, a waterfall outside of Rottenmann that is several moderate pitches of ice, followed by a short steep WI3 or WI3+ pillar at the top to a good tree anchor. The creek crossing at the base of the route is the crux!
Day 3: Hallstat
Summer and I were now getting used to the idea that it had been warm and that we were not going to find fat Canadian Rockies style ice climbs. We were also getting used to the idea that in the Alps, when the Foehn (a particularly warm wind) blows, it doesnt matter really where in the alps you go. It was just as warm in Switzerland and Italy as it was in Austria, so our backup plan to hightail it to Switzerland if the conditions were bad in Austria just wouldnt have worked. Nonetheless, there were supposed to be some great climbs around the fantastic town of Hallstat. A short drive from Bad Aussee, we were eager to check them out. We found the valley easily enough, thanks to the good directions provided by the www.bergsteigen.at website. The Shleierfall (picture below) is the showpiece of the area, clearly an honest 4-5 pitch WI4 when in shape. Unfortunately, it wasnt in. We checked it out but continued up the valley to the next large flow, a 2 pitch 4 that was also not in. While exploring this ice climb, we found a cave and inside ice steps that led to a small body-sized exit 50 feet higher. This was new and different! We had to climb it! It was spelunking and ice climbing all mixed into one. The climb was drenching, a full body shower at the top. But it was unique and an interesting diversion, and most importantly it allowed us to get to the upper slopes above the ice climbs to where we could set up a top rope on something. We chose to TR a difficult looking route, and rappelled in from above a full 50m to a small belay ledge on rock above a horribly twisting, roaring waterfall!! Truly a nerve-wrackingly exposed climb! Summer climbed first, and then belayed me from above. The climb was very steep and stenuous, with no rests for 15m of vertical ice, and then difficult and discontinuous climbing to the top on marginal ice. It was a relief to get out of there in once piece! We were soaked, and headed down the logging road back to the car, admiring Hallstat from this vantage and discussing how cool it might be to retire here.
The Schleierfall, with Hallstatt and the Hallstaetter See in the background.
The ice cave.
A view of the route we toproped near Hallstatt.
Day 4: Woerschacher Eisfall
Driving up to Bad Aussee we had passed through the town of Woerschach and had espied these climbs from the road. I had information for one of them (picture below, the right hand route), and from the road it looked long, exciting, and in! So far we had encountered only melting routes, so the prospect of something longer and/or fatter was a strong lure. So strong, in fact, that we got an alpine start and left the B&B before first light, forgoing breakfast! It was very warm, and misting. We found some footprints in the snow that could only have led to the climbs, but got lost for a brief while trying to find the route. It was around a corner, and finally we figured it out and arrived at the base.
Woerschach.
Woerschacher Eisfall. The ice is only 5-10cm thick.
While the climb looked long and fat from the road, the first pitch turned out to be a delicate journey with only one or two ice screws on the 50m pitch. The ice was only about 5-10cm thick the entire way up, though it was solid and at this lower angle the climbing was fairly secure if you didnt mind soloing. The ice looked fat from the road because the rock underneath was so consistent in its form, also looked brown because the rock was visible underneath. We had thought it was just mineral staining of the ice! I led the first pitch past a triple bolted rap anchor, and into the upper bowl to where we could see the second pitch. Summer came up, and we approached the second pitch together. This is another rambling piece of ice, similar to the first pitch at around WI2+ or WI3, but it was coming apart as we stood there. I had some serious reservations, and doubted the route would hold body weight in its current conditions. But I was game to try it anyway. I started up, but after 10 minutes of futzing around, having foot placements crumble from under my feet, and finding only 5cm thick ice, I opted out of the lead and we started decending. So far the ice trip had yielded very thin climbing that, while it was fun and all, was not really that noteworthy. If we wanted to climb thin and sketchy ice, hell, we could do that in Washington and not spend so much money doing it! We talked about this on the way back to Bad Aussee, and agreed to check the weather. A nice arctic front could save the last 3-4 days of climbing we had time for, but if the weather continued like it was, we had little hope of finding any ice that was really interesting.
"..from the road it looked long, exciting, and in!"
Day 5: Maltatal
We left Bad Aussee and headed south into Kaernten (Carinthia) to try our luck with the ice routes in the Maltatal. This is a famous and beautiful valley, but not really a skiing area so it didnt have nearly the tourist traffic or services that the ski towns had. Still, the temperatures were supposed to be colder in the South, and who knew? Perhaps the microclimate of the area made it several degrees colder on average than the areas we had been in in the past several days. Leaving Steiermark behind we drove through the long Tauern Tunnel and passed through the Radstaeter Tauern mountain range. These were real mountains, big and imposing. On the other side it was much snowier. This is because the moist air coming in from Italy and the Mediterranean Sea hits the Tauern and the snow is left on the Southern side. We got to the Maltatal in good time, but had little hopes after finding the valley snowy, but with no ice in sight. In fact one of the reputed best climbs in Austria was nothing more than a running stream. As we headed up the valley, the snow depth increased, the beauty of the place increased and the ice climbs started showing signs of life. We chained up the car to get up a steep snow-covered hill, and drive on and up into the upper valley. Here, miles from the valley entrance we finally found some ice climbs that looked possible. Then along came a snowplow and snowblower, and ordered us to turn around as they were closing the road due to extreme avalanche hazard. The writing was on the wall. We turned around and drove down the valley, and kept on driving back to Vienna.
Ice in the Maltatal.