Approach
See the “Getting There” Section on the main page. The trails start from Kartitsch in the Tyrol Gailtal Valley.
Route Description
General data
- Start altitude: 1353m
- Summit altitude: 2689m
- Prevailing exposition: W
- Type: - 1h 30min over forest roads, 2h along trails, 1h along the ferrata
- 1h 30min over forest roads, 4h along trails, 1h along the ferrata
- Protection: marked, protection on the war trail ferrata
Effort: 1600m of altitude gain, 13km distance to the summit
Power: 2 - long hike with large altitude gain
Psyche: 1 - only a little tricky in the protected section
Orientation: 1 - easy
There are two possible routes to get to Sandiger Boden, the starting point of the War Trail Ferrata. One follows the route to the South Flank Ferrata only to turn off south of Königswandtürml and following trail No 160 to the west. The other starts out from Kartitsch through Winkler Tal along a forest road. At the end of the valley a huge vertical step blocks the way and you have to climb it by following an old WW I supply trail through the western wall. You get to a little chapel over viewing Winkeltal from which you head south along a shallow high valley. In its end you reach another (lower) step which takes you to Obstanser See and the Hut bearing the same name.
From the hut follow the trail towards the Obstanser Sattel Pass (between Cima Frugnoni and Pfannspitze) where you turn north-east to climb Pfannspitze. From this summit take trail No 160 along the southern slope of Kleine Kinigat which finally reaches Sandiger Boden.
The ascent along the war trail ferrata is very well protected with cables. Take care however, since the whole path is covered with scree. A helmet is mandatory (we didn’t carry any which resulted in a near miss of a pebble onto my girlfriend’s head (about 10 inches)). The trail winds along the west face of the mountains, taking several large steps until it reaches a ledge. This leads around a profound rock towards a plateau 100m below the summit. From here the remainder of the ascent is a short hike to the summit.
Essential Gear
Hiking gear and a helmet! You might bring a ferrata set (harness, two short ropes with two biners) but I woud say that this is not mandatory.