A Class of its Own

The crossing of Zuckerhütl, Wilder Pfaff and Wilder Freiger in the Stubai Alps is one of Tyrol's most beautiful and challenging objectives. Combined with the Stubai Glacier cable car, you save a lot of altitude and time, but you're still in for a long day. Our day starts a bit unfortunate. Peter is usually on time, but today he is half an hour late which will cause some inconveniences later in the day. To make up time we don't leave the car at the valley parking lot for the Nuremberg Hut as usual but drive directly to the cable car. With the gondola we quickly reach the Eisgrat. A short ski run later we take the chairlift to Fernaujoch.

From here we can skip the slope from the Schaufeljoch to the gully southwest of the Pfaffenferner, albeit safe snow conditions are required for traversing the steep slopes which are rock-hard frozen today, rapidly taking us to a small hollow from where we ascend over a steep ridge to the shallow Pfaffenferner. We are back on schedule, and with no more time pressure we take a leisurely hike toward Pfaffennieder, the gate to Sulzenauferner. What a day! Sun, no clouds, no wind, ideal temperatures for ski touring and fantastically safe snow conditions. We effortlessly reach the shoulder to the east of the Zuckerhütl. After a relaxing snack break we use our crampons and ice axes to ascend the partly 40-degree steep northern flank on a well-trodden track.

Less than 15 minutes later we are almost alone on the highest mountain of the Stubai Alps, enjoying the fantastic panoramic view from the Dolomites to the Ötztal, Karwendel and Zillertal mountains. After quickly returning to the ski depot we ski the few meters down towards Wilder Pfaff. When conditions are uncertain the more inconvenient route up the steep western flank offers the safest route. However, the snow conditions allow us to climb the steep, partly exposed north flank. We reach the summit at 2 pm. The view down the rocky and snowy eastern crest is intimidating. Rappelling down should take us no more than an hour. "With two 60 meters ropes we should be able to rappel directly down."

However, we can only throw the ropes a few meters before they become caught in the rocks. Peter rappels down first and gets entangled himself. I can only watch impassively as he struggles with the situation with stoic tranquility. In the end he needs an hour to rappel. As I follow him one of the ropes snags on a rocky spike when I pull it off. I have no choice but to climb back up and down again 20 meters without a belay. In the meantime it's late: 4 pm. Using crampons we continue to descend until we can finally ski down to the Übeltalferner. The temperature drops to -10° Celsius, and a gusty wind kicks in, practically pushing us over the flat glacier until, after a short downhill, we find ourselves in the gully between the Müller and Becher huts.

As we put on the skins and commence the ascent to the summit of Wilder Freiger the sun is disappearing on the horizon. There is no cell phone reception in the south face. We wanted to be back in Innsbruck by 6 pm. It's already pitch dark when we finally arrive at the summit at 6 pm sharp. I call home and tell our wives that we should return to the valley by 9 and 10 pm. We hike with crampons along the pitch-dark ridge towards the eastern slope and keep checking our position on our smartphone's GPS so as not to descend too far into the dangerously steep glacier fields. Slowly we descend 300 meters vertical and luckily find the desired northern-bound traverse. Finally we can strap on our skis and carefully ski down in the light of our headlamps.

When we arrive at the Nuremberg Hut we consider spending the night. But we have no phone reception, and our wives are waiting at home. Via the very steep slope below the hut we reach a narrow gorge with its creek open in many spots due to the lack of snow; technically, this is probably the most demanding passage of today's tour. Fortunately, the gorge soon widens, and we reach the Bsuchalm. We call a taxi from the road which takes us back to the cable car station where our car is parked. I repeat the crossing with my nephew, Christoph Decker, a month later. This time we are not wasting any unnecessary time.

We reach Wilder Pfaff by noon and stay on the ridge at the rappelling points until we can comfortably traverse with crampons to the eastern flank and climb down. We arrive at the summit of Wilder Freiger in good time and ski down the east slope and the narrow gorge with good snow conditions. Shortly before dark we return to the valley. Everything is different this time, but one thing has remained the same: This incredible crossing is an absolute class of its own!