Trekking to Fritz-Pflaum huette, Wilder Kaiser day 5

We wake up early in the morning, and after finishing all the food we had heft we say goodbye from Strisenjochhaus for a while, and we start down towards the parking place. After two days with a lot of climbing our bodies which are used to 20-30m walls ask for a break, so that we’re going to fill the partly rainy day with a trekking route.

A bit of diversity is always good, and it’s a good opportunity to play a bit with my DSLR camera. In the past two days I rediscovered the same frustration which I have with climbing photos, and more specifically that it’s almost impossible to get some interesting shots while climbing. First of all because usually because you are tied to the wall and you cannot move freely to compose a shot, secondly because your climbing problem usually has the same problem.

You can get some interesting shots sometimes, but that needs to turn into the main target, and you need to wait for the perfect light in the perfect moment in the perfect place. While exploring a mountain or a route for the first time the changes that all the above things happen are really small though, as you’re usually in hurry. At best you get pics which mean something for climbers, like “nice crack”, or “what a roof”, but for non-climbers they make no sense.

But for today I shouldn’t worry about this, and with my D600 on my shoulder we start of on the steep trail which leads to Fritz-Pflaum hut. The light isn’t the best for photos, and even though the sun is mostly hidden by clouds the air is incredibly hot and still.

After almost 1000m of altitude we find the same barren landscape which can be found in the upper part of Wilder Kaiser, a glacier plateau surrounded by rocky ridges, and with faint paths which can bee seen crossing these ridges from place to place.

We miss the peak we wanted to climb today, but we only the empty landscape, and we reach one of the most isolated huts in Wilder Kaiser, the Fritz-Pflaum hut. It’s only open during the weekend, but if you’re a member of an alpine club you can get the key to hut from an association. The place where the hut is is truly wonderfull, looking on the east wall of Predigstuhl upon a 600 meter wall.

We spend almost an hour near the hut, as the place deserves a long break. And today we’re not in a hurry. Tomorrow on the other hand we want to try Via Classica, a 15 pitch route in the west wall of the Fleischbank, about which Mihaela thinks that it’s going to bee too much for as that we’re going to have an epic struggle on the route.

After getting some food for the following days and a hard summer stor we get back to the parking place from Grisner Alm. We name this place the climbing hobo parking place, as it’s almost full with climbers, a bit hidden from the main parking place, with the walls of Wilder Kaiser high above.

During the weekend it’s full with old Volkswagen vans, with the sound of clinking carabieners, and faces happy from the route of the previous day. I honestly feel better here than in any camping, where you have your tent spot between motorhomes and between retired people drinking their morning coffe.