Last year OM regular Richard Nicholls teamed up with the legendary
Peter Habeler - first man to climb Everest without oxygen with
Reinhold Messner - to attempt a mountain called the Olperer in the
Austrian Tyrol.
OK, Habeler was his guide, but thanks to poor weather conditions,
he failed to summit. This year Rich went back for another go with
Peter and son Christian guiding, here's how he got on in his own
words and pictures :-)
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A Bite At The Olperer...
The Olperer looms above a snowless glacier
This is the day, the day that I'd waited four years for - I was at
last going to climb the Olperer. At 3,476m it's the highest peak in
the Tuxer Alps, Austria and is made easily accessible by the gondola
from Hintertux to the summit of the neighbouring mountain, the
Gefrorne Wand-Spitzen.
The area is a winter wonderland - even in summer as the glacier
can be skied 12 months of the year, hence the gondola. The glacier is
not moribund and there are some huge crevasses to avoid. Even though
the glacier is maintained and many safe(ish) areas are prepared as
ski pistes - if you go without a guide I'd advise sticking to the
pistes as a party fell a few years ago into a 30m deep crevasse with
fatal consequences.
Gearing up on the glacier
Because of the danger and my total lack of experience of
glaciertravel, I decided to hire a guide to lead me to the summit.
The natural choice was Peter Habeler's Alpine School.
Peter, along with Reinholt Messner were the first to summit
Everest without supplemental oxygen back in the 1970's. Peter is
still working hard in the mountains and is a bit of a hero in
Austria. He regularly takes high profile clients up the mountains in
the Tirol and had just returned from the Glockner.
As I type this Peter is off leading a party of trekkers to Mera
Peak in Nepal. I'd attempted the same mountain with Peter last year,
but he wisely chose to turn back as the weather was closing in on the
mountain. I'd decided to use the team again as I was impressed with
the professional attitude of Peter and his son Christian.
I'd driven over to Austria and had taken my own gear, but if you
don't want to take your own then the fee for the day includes the
hire of axe, crampons and harness. Several visits to the office in
Mayrhofen followed my arrival in the town and Christian was very
up-beat, saying that the weather was looking great for the summit
bid, it was so hot in the area.
Swiss chap Marcel on the summit
The day dawned bright and sunny and I grabbed the packed lunch
that The Rose had left for me, it was an early start - 06:30. I left
the hotel and drove to Hintertux where I met Peter and the other
people who were going on the climb that day.
Peter sets a minimum limit of three plus the guide on the rope for
safety reasons and a maximum of five plus the guide. I was on a rope
of four along with guide for the day, Sepp. There was a German
couple, Stephan and his girlfriend Kirstin and a Swiss chap named
Marcel.
I was lucky as I could only speak a little German but they all
spoke reasonable English and this made the day easier for me. Peter
was there too and was taking a party of Irish folk on his rope. We
met in the car-park and the gear was handed out to those that needed
it, Peter asked me if I'd carry the spare rope as he felt there might
be more ice than snow!!
Peter Habeler bringing the Irish team up - looking North
We got the gondola to the middle station and then to my horror we
went the rest of the way on a Rat Track - the machine that prepares
the Piste for skiing - I'd been on one last year and was terrified of
them, this year Peter graciously allowed me to have the inside seat
and he went on the back with everyone else.
Using the Rat Track saves a huge amount of time and effort - the
normal route is from the top station you descend to the main Glacier
and then climb back up to the col on the Olperer. This year was a big
eye opener, the temperature on the glacier in the morning was plus 6
degrees and was warming, last year the whole thing was covered in
deep snow and no crevasses were visible. This year there was almost
no snow, the rat track was crossing deep and sometimes fairly wide
crevasses and the ice was a dirty white/blue and looked so hostile.
At the col I saw the slope we needed to climb, about grade 1
Scottish but with almost no snow and big exposed crevasses - last
year my wife had been with me and slipped on the descent of the slope
and headed towards a crevasse but was able to stop herself - the
crevasse looked small then, covered in snow, but this year I saw it
for real and it was big, wide and deep - sobering stuff.
We kitted up in a safe area and roped up. Our rope set off first
and made good progress on the snow and ice. Sepp belayed us for a
while until he was happy that we knew what we were doing and then we
moved as one. What snow there was, was in good condition and we made
quick progress to the Bergschrund, the large crevasse were the
Glacier joins the rock of the mountain.
Looking down the Glacier - the Bergshrund to the
right of the image
The Begschrund at the bottom of the route, was easy to cross this
year - there was a good strong ice bridge and presented no problems,
Sepp crossed first and belayed us across. As soon as we reached the
rock we removed our crampons and began the climb. It starts easy
enough with big holds and is more like a good solid grade II scramble
- but at altitude.
I was wearing my Scarpa Cumbre boots and it was the first time I'd
done any delicate climbing in them, I found the first part no problem
but soon we reached the slabs. The ridge we were climbing was the
North East ridge of the mountain and has some good delicate slab
climbing - probably only Mod or perhaps Diff climbing with small
finger and toe holds.
The slab angle was a problem at first as they lie right back and
you need to be at arms length or your feet slip, a little like some
of the climbs in the Devils Kitchen in Wales but with smaller holds.
Every few feet there is a metal rung, but they are far enough apart
to make a big booted novice nervous. Sepp was leading and belaying
all the time and Marcel was giving me good advice from behind - I did
wish I'd got my rock boots on rather than my winter ones.
Marcel had done this last year and was counting down the minutes
to the summit. My breath was dreadful, despite spending the previous
week doing other, less technical summits up to 2,950m I was
suffering. I felt like a total novice on this grand climb, there was
no fear of the drops - more like fear of failing and making myself
look a total fool. I was struggling on things that I would easily
lead climb in the UK, the others didn't seem to find any of it
difficult.
Schrammacher from the summit rocks of the
Olperer
We soon reached the one hard move - an overhang at the top of one of
the slabs. You have to climb to the top of the slab and then reach up
and over the top of the overhang to a metal rung (Stemple) then pull
up while at the same time lifting your right leg to about shoulder
height onto a hold to your right.
Sepp made it look easy but I struggled - my pack was quite heavy
and I'm a soft part-time climber rather than a good fit alpinist! But
once I'd got up it I was chuffed - I'd say that it was about Hard
Severe standard but top roped by Sepp. I did think, 'I'm not gonna
get down that!!' but that thought soon went out of my head.
About ten more minutes and then the summit cross, that had been in
view the whole time, was there. We'd made it, 'Berg Heil' from Sepp
and a good handshake. Time to get lunch and then think about heading
down. I could see Peter and the Irish party nearing the summit too -
the summit that is quite small with big drops down all three sides.
The Olperer is a large pyramid with three main ridges coming to
the summit - it's a proper mountain. The view south is nothing short
of stunning - you look out over the high and jagged peaks to the
Italian border - copper green lakes glow in the grey and white of the
mountains and you feel on top of the world.
The view South from the summit
"Berg Heil" from Peter Habeler
Peter and the Irish team at the summit.
Peter soon joined us and another round of handshakes and 'Berg Heil'
followed. Then it was time to set off down the mountain. I actually
found that down-climbing the ridge was easier than the climbing,
perhaps I'd got used to the big boots. We very quickly made the
overhang and a good swing down was easy. Then, down to the crampons
and the axes and across the Bergschrund.
The snow by now had warmed up and was slush - horrid to descend
for a heavy weight like me, I kept sinking up to my knee in the
stuff. I could see across the Tuxertal over to a mountain called the
Rastkogel and I could see big black clouds - a thunderstorm on the
way over.
The Irish team and Peter descending to the
col.
We all got down and removed the crampons - congratulated each other
and then began the long plod over the glacier to a chair lift that
would take us back to the gondola station. As we reached the chair
lift - boom - the first clap of thunder sounded out and made us run
the last 100m despite the weight in the packs (I'd got the spare rope
again - this time wet) and the effort we'd already spent.
At the top gondola station we looked back at the mountain we'd
just climbed, I felt a deep sense of satisfaction and achievement at
what I done. There were so many tourists at the top of the station
and they gave us strange looks - winter boots, ice axes, ropes and
crampons set us aside from the flipflops and shorts the tourists were
wearing.
I felt 1,000m tall and different from the over-weight, photo
snappers that were there - I felt like a mountaineer, for that moment
anyway. When we reached the café we treated ourselves - beer
for those not driving and a big coffee for me, the sun was back out
and the mountain air was so clear. It was a wonderful place to
be.
Down at the cafe.
I'd like to thank Peter and Christian Habeler for the experience,
one I will never forget. And also Sepp, an excellent guide.
The author at the summit - feeling - and looking -
happy.
More Information
Richard climbed the Olperer in the Austrian Tirol with Peter
Habeler's Alpine School - Alpinschule
Mount Everest - and was guided by Sepp and Peter Habeler.
Map - Alpenvereinskarten Zillertal Alps Ost
(East)
Terrain - Glacier crossing, Rock Ridge protected by metal
rungs - climbing to Mod/Diff standard with one hard(ish) move.
Must be down-climbed.
You can find more of Richard's words and pics at his web site
The Magical
Landscape
CCD
