Solstein Traverse East-West

starting point: Seegrube, Innsbruck, 1906 m
route: Frau Hitt - Brandjochboden - Brandjochkreuz - Vordere and Hintere Brandjochspitze - Hohe Warte - Kleiner  Solstein (2637 m) - Grosser Solstein - Hochzirl
climb: III-

The Karwendel is the part of the Northern Limestone Alps, which lies between the Inn and the Isar, so it is located on and around the Austrian-German border. For me, the Karwendel epitomizes the fascination of mountain scenery: the luscious green of alpine pastures, crowned by rugged mountain peaks and ruptured by vast corries.

Living in Innsbruck, you see the southern range of the Karwendel nearly every day. The prominent peaks look at you when you're running your errands in town, smile at you when you're having a drink at the Marktplatz; they are majestic, impressive - and inviting.
This time we wanted to be in this position and smile down to town. We decided to traverse the Karwendel-range, from Seegrube in the East to Grosser Solstein in the West.

Overview of the traverse as seen from Brandjochkreuz.

We decided for a lazy approach and took the Nordkettenbahn, a mountain lift that took us to Seegrube, the starting point of our adventure. From there we hiked to Frau Hitt Sattle, and climbed up Frau Hitt.  The legend is that Frau Hitt was an avaricious and narcissistic giant woman who petrified when she gave the order to wash her son with white bread dipped in milk while everyone else was starving. Today you can climb up the petrified woman, it's graded III- from the west and III from the east and takes about 15 - 30 min from the Frau Hitt saddle.

From Frau Hitt we descended to Branjochboden, hiked up Brandjochkreuz and took the southern ridge (Suedgrat) to the Vordere Brandjochspitze. The ridge was well marked and rather beautiful and diversified to climb! There are two spots, III-, one of them is a terrifying big step you have to do over the abyss! This time it was me who was half petrified, not knowing how to do this giant leap!

First part of Brandjochspitze Southern Ridge 

On the ridge with views to Innsbruck and the Inn valley.

 

I managed and was rewarded with nice climbs along corners and short slabs before reaching the summit of Vordere Brandjochspitze. Including the Frau Hitt de-tour, it took us about three hours from Seegrube. From here on, it was an alpine climb with no marks or cairns to follow. The climb up to Hintere Brandjochspitze was not too difficult but there was a lot of loose rocks! From here, we stuck to the ridge for the majority of the climb. The traverse from there to Hohe Warte was exposed and rather brittle with a lot of loose rocks. The traverse from Hohe Warte to Kleiner Solstein was not as brittle with some good short climbing sections on solid rock. The descend to  Grosser Solstein was without technical sections. It took us five hours from Brandjochspitze, we took it slowly with plenty of rests and soaking up views, sun and freedom.

Roland descending Hintere Brandjochspitze, heading towards Hohe Warte, the highes peak with the steep North face is the Kleiner Solstein. The broad, flat dome of Grosser Solstein can be seen behind.

 

Looking back to Hintere Brandjochspitze (highest peak) and Vordere Brandjochspitze (to its right) with the southern ridge extending.
 

From Grosser Solstein we descended to Solsteinhuette and hiked out to Hochzirl to catch the bus back to Innsbruck.

It's been a fabulous day, and from now on I will see the those prominent Karwendel peaks with different eyes. Once you've been on the summit and looked back to the city as if looking from a mirror, the perception of the city changes. The peaks are not mere extras in the spectacle of daily life, they have become part of your reality.