Trekking in the Stubai Alps - The Stubai Rucksack Route

With its shapely peaks, good paths and welcoming huts, the Stubai in the Austrian Tyrol is an ideal venue for a first Alpine season. This guide describes two celebrated routes, the Stubai Rucksack Route and the Stubai Glacier Tour, which take the walker into the heart of the range.

View Sample Route Map

Stage 4 - Innsbrucker Hut to the Bremer Hut

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Standard time: 6 hours
Distance: 9km
Ascent: Lots of up and down

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This is a wonderful walk that is characterised by lots of up and down and plenty of challenge and ever changing scenery.

Picking up the track from behind the hut, the route R124 contours the hillside SW to an obvious col (2559m) with a large cairn on a spur on the Alfeirkamm, above a tiny lake. There is an excellent view of the Serleskamm-Kirchdachspitze. The col is clearly visible from the hut and the approach is frequently snow-covered.

From the col, the route continues to traverse the hillsides SW above the Pfannalm and Glättealm on or around the 2500m contour to a saddle (2511m) at the foot of the Grosser Glättespitze SE ridge, west of a rock outcrop Pramarnspitze (2½–3hrs).

The path descends steeply W, with fixed ropes, into a broad couloir of the Beilgrube above Traulalm. Ascend rocky slopes S, across the Ochsenkogels E ridge contouring W along the 2200m contour into the boulder-strewn Traul Alm to a stream at Plattental (2400m).

Ascend broken rocky ground S to an obvious col (2590m) on the E ridge of the Aussere Wetter Spitze (4hrs). The slope just before the top of the col is often snow-covered and will require a little extra care to climb. Once on top of the col, the Bremer Hut is clearly visible across the Simminger Alm with its little sea! From the col descend steep rocks, protected by fixed ropes, first SE then SSW to the foot of the ridge on the northern slopes of the Simminger Alm. Cross the Simminger Alm basin SW to the Lauterersee (2425m). Continue S to the foot of the Innere Wetter Spitze east ridge. Ascend broken rocks (good scrambling with fixed ropes) to emerge on the broad plateau just below the hut (6hrs).

High points
Throughout the day the scenery embraces some of the finest of the Stubai Rucksack Route. On leaving the hut, the unrivalled views of the Tribulaun peaks continue to dominate the horizon until the first col is reached on Alfeirkamm, where there is a particularly good view of the Innsbrucker Hut and the pinnacles of the Serleskamm.

By the time the Pramarnspitze is reached the magic of the Tribulaun will have given way to the snow-capped peaks of the Feuerstein and Pflerscher Hochjoch and a fabulous view of the Gschnitztal valley. The day is superbly rounded off by ending at the magnificently sited Bremer Hut.

Cautionary notes
Whilst the standard time for the route is 6 hours many parties take around 7 hours. If you have children with you, you should allow all day. Whatever your circumstance you are advised to be on your way by 0700hrs.

Whilst the route is very much an up-and-down walk, all the steep down parts tend to be protected by fixed wire ropes. The path descending from Pramarnspitze is on the scrappy side due to a combination of poor ground and lack of maintenance. Because the route crosses a number of ridges and spurs, patches of old snow tend to linger on the north-facing slopes and in gullies, in particular north of the Alfeirkamm opposite the Innsbrucker Hut and on the northern side of the col when crossing the Äussere Wetter Spitze. Neither is insurmountable, but they can be problematic. Whilst the route is adequately waymarked, it is best avoided in bad weather.