Tristenspitz

Page history

* September 27th 2008: Page created

Overview

Tristenspitz is an "almost 3.000'er" in the southern part of the Ankogel Group (or the Reisseck Group, if you see this as a separate group). Tristenspitz is situated on an east-west running ridge including Reisseck. The peak is situated 4 km's west of Reisseck.

Climbing Tristenspitz involves a rather long approach on marked routes and a final 200 meters of class 2-3 climbing. Compared to Reisseck, that see a lot of traffic, only a few people visit Tristenspitz, so you get a nice remote feeling. When I was there in September 2008, only four people had signed the climber book on the top in all of 2008, and I think it only had 7-8 names in all of 2007.

From the top you have an awesome view towards the Grossglockner and Hochalmspitze, the highest mountain in the Ankogel group.

Getting there

There are three different routes to the top and therefore three different approaches.

Northern approach: The northern (and possibly shortest route) starts at the Giesener Hütte. To get there you need to drive to Gmünd, up the Malta valley and up the Gössgraben valley. There are busses going up the Malta valley, but the last 11 km up the Gösgraben valley there is no public transportation which means you either need to A: Have a car, B: Hitch hike (and don't expect much traffic outside the main season in the summer) or C: Walk 11 boring km's on a paved road. From the parking lot there is 600 meter walk up gravel roads to the hut.

Northwestern approach: The northwestern route starts at Arthur von Schmid Haus. To get to the hut you can either A: Walk up from Mallnitz (good railway connections) in 3-5 hours, B: Take the bus (not the good connections) or drive your own car up the Dösener Tal to the official parking lot and walk the last 2-3 hours or C: Take a taxi further up the valley all the way to Konradhütte and walk the last 1-2 hours.

Southeastern approach: The southeastern route starts from the Reisseck Hütte. The easiest approach to the hut is to take the "Reisseck Bergbahn" (mountain railway) from the village of Koblnitz. The railway will lift you from 719 m to 2.250 m providing an easy access to the mountains. The prices are around 20 euro for a return ticket. Koblnitz cane be reached via bus or by train from Spittal in half an hour (both however not very frequent). It is naturally also possible to walk all the way up from the Mölltal valley.

For the approaches see a detailed map on www.austrianmap.at (search Dösner See and zoom out)

Routes overview

Climbing Tristenspitz involves a rather long approach followed by a final climb. There are three basic routes, all of them shown on www.austrianmap.at (search Dösner See and zoom out) .

Northern route / Giessener Hütte: The northern route is most likely the easiest approach to Tristenspitz and can be done in 3-4 hours. The hut is situated at 2.203 m and the final climb starts at 2.780 m. The first 4 km's of the route are quiet flat, before you have a 150 meter climb up to Kaponigtörl (2.692 m). From here you walk along the eastern side of Tristenspitz. In September 2008 some of this final part of the route had been damaged by slides.

Northwestern route / Arthur von Schmid Haus: This route is somewhat longer and will take 3-5 hours. The route starts out hard with a 350 meter climb to Seeschartl. From here you can climb Ochladinspitz (2.776) in about an hour. The route is not marked, but it is easy scramling, maybe with a few sections of class 2. Otherwise the route gets easier as you cross Pfaffenberger Alm, before finally climbing 150 meter of car size boulders up to Kaponigtörl, where the route meets the one coming from Giessener Hütte.

Arthur von Schmid Haus in front of Ochladinspitz. The route climbs the boulderfield in the centre

The picture shows the crossing of Pfaffenberger Alm to the top of the peak

Looking back on Ochladinspitz from Pfaffenberger Alm

Tristenspitz seen from the notbiruak in Pfaffenberger Alm

A view down Kaponigtal from Pfaffenberger Alm

The route across Pfaffenberger Alm seen from the top of Tristenspitz

Southeastern route / Reisseck Hütte: The southeastern approach is the longest and will take 4-6 hours. The route starts out gently along the Mühldorfer See before climbing 200 meters up to Riekentörl. It then goes down past the Hochalm See, where you walk on the dam. From the lake it slowly climbs up to Zwengertörl, where you have a great view of Tristenspizt. Finally it follows the ridge between Riekenkopf and Tristenspitz. It is possible to make a 2 hour detour from Riekentörl and climb Reisseck. All of this route is on marked routes and is quite easy.

Sunrise over Kammwand

The pass "Riekentörl" with Reisseck in the background

A view from Riekentörl with Tristenspitz in the far background

Tristenspitz seen from Zwenbergertörl across the Zwenberger Hochalm

Final climb: The final climb to the top of Tristenspitz consists of a 150 meter climb. No route is shown on any official maps, but the climb is sparsely marked with red dots and a signpost tells you where is begins. The route climbs the eastern ridge and the northeastern face of the mountain. The route is mainly class 2, but a few sections are probably class 3, especially after a recent slide occurred in the northeast side. The climb up/down will take around 1 hour. There is a summitcross on the peak, but in September 2008 it had fallen over.

A view from the top of Tristenspitz towards Grossglockner with snow in the back, Maresenspitz (2.915 m) in darkgray on the right and Ochladinspitz (2.776 m) in light grey in the centre

Hochalmspitze (3.360 m), the highest mountain in the Ankogel group, seen from the top of Tristenspitz

Most people will probably make a "traverse" of Tristenspitz and not go back via the same route. The official walking times are:
Reisseck Hütte -> Arthur von Schmid Haus: 10 hours (including climbing Reisseck)
Reisseck Hütte -> Giessener Hütte: 8 hours (Reisseck not included).
None of these time estimates includes climbing the last 150 meters to the top of Tristenspitz.
In September 2008 I did the trip from Reisseck Hütte, over Reisseck, Tristenspitz and Ochladinspitz to Arthur von Schmid Haus in 10 hours. This was however a day with splendid weather, only few breaks and a good pace.

When to climb

The best months to climb Tristenspitz are summer - from start of July when the weather starts to stabilize till autumn when snow starts to fall. In the summer the summit can be reached in one day - but prepare for a long day!

Red tape

The mountain is situated outside the Hohe Tauern National Park so I am not aware of any rules regarding the mountain.

Camping

The routes to Tristenspitz start from the following mountain huts.

Giessener Hütte

Arthur von Schmid Haus

Reisseck Hütte:
The hut is situated at 2.287 m and situated only 10 minutes from the Reisseckbahn.

Images

View Tristenspitz Image Gallery - 1 Images