Ellmauer Halt, Gamsaengersteig

Overview

This is the normal ascent on the highest summit of the beautiful Wilder Kaiser group. The route is popular due to great scenery, views from the summit and support of the big mountain hut. In the upper part it's a ferrata of medium difficulty, on the Swiss Hiking Scale the overall tour difficulty would be T4.

Approach

See also the parent page and the online map below!

To Gruttenhuette you need from Wochenbrunnen Alp 1 h 30 min. From the hut you continue northwards by a marked path to the route entry (around 30 minutes).

Route Description

Jaegerwand

The traverse below the South wall

Approaching the south face of Ellmauer Halt, the marked path goes from the hut first slightly towards the left, then right, towards the north-eastwards, where it enters good grassy ledges, which cross the whole south face towards the Rote Rinnscharte (2099 m). The ledges are comfortable, although narrow and in the beginning they are not secured with iron. Before the Rote Rinnscharte a few passages are secured with pegs and steel cables, but there are no major difficulties. Then comes the Jaegerwand, across which a ladder of pegs helps (just a meter below is a steep scree, and this "famous pasage" looks strange to me; perhaps the ladder is useful whene there is a lot of snow).  

Just below the summit

Climbing and scrambling from Rote Rinnscharte again upwards, we soon reach the western ridge. The direction is more and more turning right (northeastwards) and soon we reach the point where the route branches in two variants. The right one is probably more beautiful. It climbs vertically over a step, uses a few narrow ledges and reaches the broad ledge, named Maximilian-Strasse. Also the left route must climb over a vertical passage (ladder), which lies at the end of a narrow ravine. After both routes join, you climb easily over scree and ledges to the small wooden hut (Babenstuber Hütte, 2300 m), standing just below the summit. To the big cross you have now only a few minutes - across a slab and over easy rocks.

Essential Gear

The route is exposed to hot sun, so start early. Be aware of lightning, which on Ellmauer Halt represents one of major dangers. On the upper part there is some danger of falling debris, so a helmet may also be a useful part of equipment.