Over Tyrolese Hills in 2022

Austria, June 2022

by Raymond Simpson

In 1935 Frank Smythe spent the early part of the summer traversing the Tyrol with a Canadian, Campbell Secord. I had long harboured the ambition to repeat Smythe’s journey in its entirety, inspired by the ‘wandering spirit’ and mountaineering interest of his narrative. I was particularly interested in comparing his observations with the 21st-century landscape.

In his charming book “Over Tyrolese Hills” (Hodder & Stoughton, 1936), Smythe describes many interesting ascents and makes fascinating observations of the contemporary environment, culture, economics and politics. Engineering projects were beginning to build roads and harness hydro power in the valleys. Embryonic ski developments were appearing and he hoped that they would be “sensitively” carried out. At the time Austria was about to be annexed by Germany, and trade and travel were severely restricted; this troubled Smythe who was a passionate advocate of free trade. Italy was also ramping up the border fortifications in Southern Tyrol which had been ceded to it by the Treaty of Versailles. Smythe seemed to take a particular interest in the Italian military presence; I wonder if he was emulating his mentor, Francis Younghusband, who spied on Russian movements in the Karakoram in the late nineteenth century?

I wanted to start as early in the season as possible to benefit from residual spring snow cover and enjoy the flowers and herbs on the pastures. Where huts were not open we occasionally used winter rooms. In many huts we were the first visitors and were made very welcome by the hut guardians and treated to complementary glasses of schnapps. My companions between 13 June and 13 July were Clive and Wilma Rubens, Scots now living in Canmore, Alberta.

Smythe’s route starts in the Silvretta and goes by the Ötztal, Stubai and Zillertal ranges to the Hohe Tauern. On the Piz Buin in the Silvretta the traditional route is no longer practicable because of glacial retreat, and the alternative involves climbing a long snow and ice slope to traverse the extensive Ochsentaler Gletscher, and a final rock climb up the north ridge. All of this made the ascent very interesting. The crossing of the Ochsenscharte below the Dreiländerspitze involved roping down a 10m vertical snow/shale wall exposed by the drop in the level of ice on the Jamtalferner.

In the Ötztal I enjoyed a delightful evening rock climb on the Rauher Kopf prior to an early morning crossing of the huge Gepatschferner. The remote Brandenberger Haus set on a rock spur in the centre of one of the largest icefields in the Alps was spectacular. We were fortunate that it froze and a dusting of snow made the ascent of the Wildspitze (3770m) from the Breslauer Hütte safer and very scenic, especially on the crevassed snow slopes of the north face. The normal route from the south now has a cable leading on to the north face to avoid a couloir which can be threatened by stonefall later in the day.

In the Stubai group after climbing the Zuckerhütl (3505m), approaching thunderstorms caused us to descend the Sulzenauferner. This was not a good decision as since a previous visit a massive rockslip had changed the route. We had to negotiate several Bergschrunde and steep boiler-plate slabs to steer clear of rockfall from the left bank of the glacier. The only other occasion when it froze at night was before the ascent of the Olperer in the Zillertal. The north ridge is a fine exposed rock climb, well equipped with metal stanchions, which appalled Smythe. They were, however, very useful for abseiling back down.

In the Reichen group I had a delightful scramble on sound rock along the ridge north of the Rotkopf (2819m) with close views of the Wildgerlosspitze and Reichenspitze, two fine peaks which I had climbed in 1968 inspired by the pictures in Smythe’s book. We ran out of good weather and the huts became fully booked by the time we reached the Hohe Tauern so we were unable to climb the Großvenediger. It remains a skiing ambition. From the Warnsdorfer Hütte we crossed the pass to the Italian Birnlückenhütte. Clive and Wilma departed here and I crossed back into the Austrian Krimmler Achental, spending two nights at the Krimmler Tauernhaus.

We stayed in the huts Smythe had used and were impressed by the upgrading of facilities and the quality of food. Flush toilets and hot showers were always available (apart from in the winter rooms). Of course, Austria is a very different place today. EU membership ensures free trade and movement, skiing and summer tourism have generated massive infrastructure on which the economy of Tyrol depends. Valleys have been inundated by huge dams providing hydropower [see the article in NL237 – ed.]. Pastoral agriculture survives but is currently threatened by cheap dairy and meat products from large scale agro-industrial units. In certain areas, reduction in seasonal cattle grazing is resulting in incursion of montane scrub and loss of alpine meadows with their rich biodiversity of herbs and flowers.

Glaciers have reduced by 30-40% since 1935 and the retreat has been increasingly dramatic in the last 20 years. As the permafrost slackens its grip on valley sides and ridges, landslides and rockfall are increasing. Many of Smythe’s routes are no longer recommended and three of the passes we crossed had ‘geschlossen’ notices on the far side. The icy north faces of Zillertal peaks which I climbed in the 60s have disappeared. It is now essential to have the most up-to-date AV maps which indicate recent changes to the topography and safe routes. We found that the larger glaciers like the Gepatschferner carried a lot of surface water which pooled in ‘sumps’ or poured into crevasses. The resulting water pressure contributes to the calving of seracs (as in the catastrophic collapse of the Marmolada glacier last year).

Despite all these changes the Tyrolese hills provide a spectacular and varied mountain landscape with very picturesque valleys framing views of snowy peaks and lush with alpine flowers. The excellent hut system and fine peaks delight the mountain wanderer just as much as they did in Smythe’s day and the excellent post-bus service spared us the long dusty valley walks which he experienced.

The ÖAV is a great institution. Volunteers were active in maintaining the huts as they opened and the staff in the Innsbruck office were extremely helpful and well informed about the current state of huts and routes.

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