Austria: Veliki Klek
My aunt Lojzka wanted to conquer Veliki Klek, the highest Austrian mountain, mostly known under the name Großglockner and I decided to accompany her to the summit, along with my cousin Alex. Since I knew, that the summit can be crowded during the weekends, we decided to have a one day trip during the weekday and that meant that we had to start early. At 3 a.m. we started driving and after 3 hours we were at the parking lot above Kals am Großglockner. We put on our backpacks and our hike began. In 2 hours we reached the Stüdlhütte mountain hut and after a short break we continued to the edge of the Ködnitzkees glacier. We formed a rope team, so we could safely cross it. The glacier was soon behind us and we continued over a via ferrata to the Erzherzog-Johann Hütte mountain hut. Soon we put on our crampons for one more time, and with them we reached the rock face leading to Kleinglockner. We left the technical gear behind and only with the help of the rope we conquered the 3798 meters high summit. Congratulations Lojzka and Alex. After the photo session we started returning back to the valley using the same way and same tactics. The roundtrip was finished after almost 14 hours.
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| Time to start with the hike to the highest Austrian mountain. |
Along the Ködnitzbach.
Stüdlhütte mountain hut at an altitude of 2801 meters.
Towards the Ködnitzkees glacier.
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| Mini glacier lake. |
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| Forming the rope team at the edge of the Ködnitzkees glacier. |
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| We successfully crossed the glacier. |
The crevasse was too big to cross it, but we could easily continue over the rocky way.
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| As most of the glaciers, also this one is smaller each year. |
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| Last section with ice-axes and crampons above Erzherzog-Johann Hütte mountain hut. |
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| The last part of the Normal Route required a little bit of climbing, UIAA class II. |
Last meters below the summit.
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| And we did it. Alex, Tuši and Lojzka on top of Veliki Klek, 3798 meters. |
We started returning the same way.
Back on the glacier, with a jump over the crack.
Our legs were already tired, but with every step we were closer to our starting point.
Cold water was perfect to cool the beer and legs. Cheers to another successful hike.
2nd hike to Veliki Klek / Großglockner in 2021.
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