CUCC Expeditions to Austria: 1976 - 2024

For our last full day on expo we decided on a jolly to the Dachstein. We only had 3 via ferrata sets between the four of us so decided to leave that kit behind and do some glacier walking. We had a potentially optimistic plan to leave at 8am - Lucy was ready just after 8 with me and Colin not far behind, but standard Christopher faff ensued and we left just before 9. I checked the cable car bookings in the car and every slot was fully booked, not ideal but a quick look at a map suggested there were paths to the top so we settled on walking up instead.

More Christopher faff occured once we arrived, a day out with him would feel incomplete if he didn't, but after 30 mins of hair brushing, bag repacking and general life contemplation he was ready and we set off. Soon afterwards Christopher walked off the path and slid down a steep slope landing in a hedge. Asking if he was ok he shouted back no but after pulling him out he was thankfully fine aside from some minor scrapes and we continued.

It was a pleasant walk up with the mountain mostly to ourselves, though nearing the top it turned out I hadn't looked at the map very closely and the last section was a via ferrata, oops. Thankfully it was a fairly easy grade and we were so close to the top we decided to press on. We helmeted up, except for Lucy who decided in the morning a helmet was unnecessary weight to carry and instead put on her safety beanie.

Passing some unimpressed Austrians at our lack of gear, we were soon at the top with views of the glacier. Christopher had grumbled for most of the walk, he was quite excited for a cable car, but it was only 2.5 hours up and we'd saved €50 each on the cable car so he was much happier now. We had lunch and a wander along the glacier before heading down a different route. It started with a climb up the side of the glacier then a 15m ladder up to a 1980s tunnel through the mountain to avoid going over the ridge. Apparently people take skis there in winter but the off piste cliff the other side looked terrifying.

Climbing down the other side with some Insitu handlines we soon reached a second glacier. Me and Christopher walked down with crampons whilst Colin slid down while arresting with an ice axe. Lucy initially put crampons on but then decided that was boring and slid down on her bum, using a crampon in each hand to slow herself. At the bottom she said I was boring and sensible for walking down and she'd had much more fun, which I could really disagree with. The remaining walk had lots of scree surfing and a very pleasant forest section, and we were soon back at the car, content with a very fun day out.