Ski & Climb: The emperor's rock in winter garb

The sense and nonsense of combining two sports: In the Wilder Kaiser, we take our touring skis to the alpine climbing route to experience a surprise in the middle of the wall.

Thehigh pressure area is so formative that it deserves its own name: Omega is its name and it has been bringing cloudless skies over Tyrol for more than 14 days. It also brings us the extreme form of what you could call spring doldrums: Down in the valley, perfect temperatures for climbing in a T-shirt, up on the mountain, ideal firn conditions for ski touring. The paradoxical question therefore arises every day: go climbing or skiing? The elegant solution to this luxury problem: exactly, both at the same time!

Let's call it ski & climb, with touring skis to the rock, climb nicely on the south side, abseil, glide back down to the valley with generous turns. So much for the theory, the practice is a little more complicated: Which crags can I get to reasonably easily in spring? Where is it warm enough to climb even on short days? What role does the risk of avalanches play as the day warms up? And above all, who can I motivate to go on a ski tour with a harness, carabiner and double rope?

Christof is there, as is usually the case with discreetly crazy activities. We want to head for a destination in the Tyrolean lowlands, after a ski & climb near Imst and one in the Schüsselkar, that's the next logical step for this year, taken together you could even boldly call it a "Tyrolean ski & climb trilogy", that sounds good. And what better destination in the lowlands than the legendary Wilder Kaiser, where so much climbing history has already been written?

The Kaiser in the snow

When covered in snow, the Wilder Kaiser is like the Dolomites in compact format: jagged rock pinnacles and steep gullies everywhere, the steep gully aficionado in Christof can already see the next worthwhile ascent. But not today, we're staying in easy terrain in terms of skiing, and that's immediately apparent from the masses - it has to be said - who are making a pilgrimage towards Ellmauer Tor, hundreds is no exaggeration to use the plural. But who's surprised with this imperial weather in the Kaiser, the avalanche warning service has been issuing an all-day "1" for two weeks, not even the hint of a cloud in the sky, visibility limited only by the horizon, in short: the conditions couldn't be better.

So, with an inward smile, we join the column of ski tourers, knowing full well that we will soon be hanging alone on a sunny south face. Our destination: the Vordere Karlsspitze, with its relatively short approach and impressive 400-metre-high wall, is a popular destination among climbers. And there is a route here whose name could not be better suited to our undertaking: ABS. In the winter sports world, the acronym stands for airbag system, an avalanche backpack, in our case it stands for: "Andy Bernhard Schonner/Salvenmoser", an immortalization of the local first ascenders on the beautiful Gaudeamus pillar.

Due to the favorable avalanche situation, we are traveling without an ABS backpack, but it is still not light with all the material. Up to the Kübelkar it was an easy ski tour, but the last few meters are still steep. This is the first challenge that you don't have in summer: Getting to the rock at all. We laboriously step onto a small, flat surface and fix our rucksacks to the first bolt so that they don't disappear into the bergschrund. Putting on the climbing harness is a balancing act, changing from ski touring boots to climbing shoes is something only for enthusiasts anyway. But somehow we manage the feat, ropes out, climbing off. A quick look at the topo reveals: rope length one, VI, 30 meters. Christof swings onto the rock, clips an express sling and then: "Stand!" After a good five meters, he is already at the first belay, which means we are still standing on 25 meters of snow that has accumulated here at the base of the wall over the whole winter. But with a good 400 meters of climbing left, it doesn't matter. At least that's what we think now.

Climbing in a T-shirt

So the first crux has been conquered and the rope team has been transferred from the element of snow to the element of rock. Let's go! The sun beats down on the rock, "the long underpants were a bad idea anyway", sweats Christof at the belay. Having just come out of winter, it feels like summer here, we're climbing in T-shirts, not a trace of cold hands. In short, the conditions are perfect. In the background, we can hear the first firn disciples wobbling off with loud whoops of joy, looking like little ants from up here. The distant view stretches from the Großglockner to the Großvenediger, a blue and white panorama in a class of its own.

We also chose the ABS as our destination because it is well equipped with bolts by Kaiser standards and we can abseil back down the route to our ski depot. In addition, the difficulty of up to VII- is quite moderate, which should ensure that we make rapid progress. At least that's what we still think.

And then came pitch number four: marked I-II in the topo, actually easy walking terrain. Unfortunately, it's now a rather steep firn field, winter has preserved its icy greetings here. "Damn", we think, "normally no problem with stiff ski boots, but with climbing boots ... kind of bad!" Of course, you can't belay anything either, and you don't want to slip away in this exposure. "Phew, it's too hot for me," says Christoph, and that's saying something coming from an experienced alpinist and mountain rescuer.

In other words: back off, don't take any unnecessary risks. That's what you get for practicing a summer sport in winter, you might say. That's true, of course. But at least we tried it, and turning back in time is the skill that makes alpinists grow old. And that's all we intend to do. Which we certainly won't let ourselves miss: The firn descent back down into the valley, the generous terrain a delight. So our failure on the route doesn't feel like a failure at all, but rather like a gain: an adventurous day in the magnificent setting of the Wilder Kaiser, one of the most beautiful places in the whole of Tyrol. And next time we'll know better: we'll get up earlier and head to the south-east face of the Karlsspitze. There, where the wall is so steep that no snowfield will remain. The well-earned dumpling soup at the Wochenbrunnalm tastes good in any case.

Ski & climb on the Wilder Kaiser The Vordere Karlspitze, west of the popular path to the Ellmauer Tor, is well suited for access on skis. An easy ski tour, approx. 700 vertical meters, from the Wochenbrunner Alm. For the routes on the south-east face (ABS, Wirtskante etc.), a later time should be chosen when the snow fields in the bands have already melted. Better the (more challenging) routes on the south-east side, e.g. Sportherz (8). The impressive Bauernpredigtstuhl on the right-hand side on the way to Ellmauer Tors is also easy to reach on skis, but has a west face, so only gets sun in the afternoon. The avalanche situation here must be stable all day and the days must be longer (possible from mid-March). The shorter sport climbing slab routes on Niedersessel (Ackerlhütte area, up to three pitches, mostly 5th to 7th degree of difficulty) are also easy to ski.

Tips for ski & climb Pay attention tothe avalanche report! An all-day "one" is ideal; in classic spring conditions, the day warms up and a descent after midday is often significantly more dangerous (wet snow). This leaves only a short time window for climbing. Watch out forsnow fields above the route! Sunlight on the wall can lead to increased rock/icefall when the snow above you slowly melts. In addition, dry rock in the morning can quickly turn into a small waterfall in the afternoon. Pay attention tothe base of the wall! What seems trivial in summer, namely getting onto the route, can be quite tricky in winter if there is still a steep snowfield at the base of the wall. Changing from ski touring equipment to climbing equipment becomes a balancing act.