Grundschartner Nordkante, Zillertal

Grundschartner Nordkante (VI+ / V+ A0, 750 m) is often referred to as one of the best granite routes in the eastern Alps. Expect a long day with rewarding ridge climbing on solid rock. From Häusling in Zillertal there are 1450 meters of ascent to the start of the ridge, then another 750 meters of climbing over 18 pitches, and finally over 2000 meters descent mainly on block terrain and pathless grass before you can finally call it a day.

Note: This classic route was included in Walter Pause's cult book "Im extremen Fels" and seems to have become increasingly popular since. The route is already described in several texts (see references below!), so I will only give a brief personal account. Some further details can be found in the picture captions.

Grundschartner Nordkante

After our recent outing on Salzburger Weg, me and Markus were still keen on proper sleep, so that spending a night "sleeping" in the car down in Häusling was not an option (one could stay at Häusling Alm, but this somehow never crossed our minds…). Instead we turned our attention to Bodenalm, of which information was very sparse. After all, "real alpinists don't have to shorten the ascent, they do it all in one day!"…

We arrived to the small collection of old huts at Bodenalm after sunset, and saw lights from a window at the uppermost hut. The owners kindly pointed us to the upper-rightmost little shed, which provides a basic shelter for climbers of the Grundschartner. No fee is charged for staying overnight even though Bodenalm is privately owned. There's a water tap between the owner's house and the shelter, and a dry privy just below - basically all you need. The shelter itself, though definitely traditional, was not particularly dirty as has been stated in other reports - someone must have cleaned it out pretty well, only a few traces of mice if one looks close enough. What's worse is that there are only 4 thin blankets for 8 beds (with room for 16). This made for a cool night, cosy if one likes to snuggle up… ;-)

We were lucky with a brilliant, clear night. Since the light pollution is very low in this tucked away valley, we could marvel as the Milky Way appeared unusually clear in the dark sky.

Two other climbers dropped in just as we were getting ready for bed. But the father and son were already gone by dawn. Me and Markus waited until Jochen and Klaus arrived from the valley, whith whom we were to climb today. We then ascended the remaining 900 meters to the start of Grundschartner Nordkante together in a relaxed tempo taking around 2,5 hours. It was already 10.00 as we started on the first belayed pitch, which is rather late! But surely we'd climb quick enough to compensate...?

There were a lot of climbers out on this perfect summer's day. At least 4 teams ahead of us, and another team in parallel. The latter sometimes got a bit complicated as we all climbed at about the same speed. After a few pitches of waiting at belay stands, me and Jochen decided to solve the problem by pausing for a second breakfast.

The climbing follows the edge in a logical line, generally easy enough to find using the topos below. As noted before, the rock quality is extraordinary! Rusty pitons mixed with some modern, a few fixed friends and a fixed rope on the short down climb on the first pitch was all we could find, but most of the route is well protectable. We all experienced the first crux (V+ A0 or VI+) to be the hardest, and difficult or impossible to protect with proper gear at the zig-zag traverse to the right; one simply must content oneself with the pitons and an ancient ragged sling.

In general the hardest parts are slabby but technical with interesting moves. There are plenty of wonderful edges and cracks and some magnificent piaz climbing. The overhangs (6-) felt much easier than indicated in the topo, but then we generally prefer steep climbing before slabs. Over all the route we made only a few sections on running belay (after the first tower III 85 m, and on the summit ridge 140 m II-III), and the route took us around 7-7½ hours. Regrettably, after the late start we were now running out of time…

Between 17.00 and 17.30 our teams reached the summit. We were desperate to refill some energy before the descent, but couldn't afford to stay long. The snow fields on the eastern slopes, that may speed descent considerably earlier in the season or with a less hot summer, were practically gone by now. And so we had to cross endless (!) fields of block terrain, slabs, steep grass and small streams. After having finally passed the last great precipices below Kainzenkar it was already dark. Fortunately (!!) the path started around here. We followed this path to Kainzenkaralm, where a wide gravel road leads back to the main road and onwards to our car. A sigh of relief, as we had reached safe and easy ground, but also a sigh of anguish at the prospect of some further 10 km on sore feet. For who would drive down the remote street at this late hour? No-one. Normally you would take the bus or a bike for the final 5 km, but the bus stops running at 18.00, and none of us thought of bringing a bike.

An endless descent over block terrain...

This was a night of the Perseid meteor shower, and the valley was pitch dark, lit only by the bright stars. The spectacular stars and occasional glimpses of meteors kept us going through the night.

Arriving exhausted at 23.50 after 2000 meters and 6 hours of steady descent, too late even for camping, we had to make an emergency bivouac by the power station. If you have to do this, be sure to note that there is a tap on the facility to the right of the main entrance that provides drinking water, and that camping freely is prohibited in this region. There is what looks like a camping place 4 km up the road if you arrive in time. Enjoy ;-)

Grundschartner Nordkante, Zillertal

Grundschartner Nordkante

Route descriptions

Topo

Images