Climb Grossglockner
Großglockner Summit Tours
Großglockner Hut-to-Hut Hiking Tours
About Climb Grossglockner
At Climb Grossglockner, our deep connection with the mountain defines us. We offer guided ascents of the Grossglockner, Austria’s highest peak, tailored for seasoned climbers and mountain lovers looking for a fresh challenge with an appropriate support base.
Our expertise lies in curating and carrying out various types of tours – summiting the Grossglockner along the normal route or the technical Studlgrat ridge in summer or winter. We also prepared a selection of the best hut-to-hut hikes around the Grossglockner for those who find Austria’s highest peak too big a challenge.
Our team is composed of seasoned mountaineers skilled in navigating the diverse terrains of Grossglockner. We prioritize your safety, equipping each expedition with the knowledge and gear needed to ensure a secure and enjoyable journey.
Our guides are experts in alpine climbing and know how to correctly interpret the ever-changing mountain conditions, making real-time decisions prioritizing your well-being.
Climb Grossglockner is committed to preserving the natural beauty of our alpine environment. We believe in responsible tourism, adopting practices that minimize our footprint and encourage ecological awareness among our clients.
Join us to experience the Grossglockner like never before, guided by experts who live and breathe the mountains. With Climb Grossglockner, you’re embracing the spirit of the Austrian Alps.
A Quick Guide to Climbing Grossglockner
Grossglockner, Austria’s highest peak at 3,798 meters, tops the wishlist of many European mountain lovers. Its prominent shape and accessibility, with just the right amount of challenging sections, make it an attractive next step in the world of mountaineering after outgrowing technical mountain trails and via ferratas.
However, unless someone received a thorough mountaineering education, it goes against the advice that they should undertake this climb by themselves without acquiring the services of a guide. Grossglockner presents some objective dangers and technical challenges not found on typical hiking or secured climbing paths.
Grossglockner Summit Routes
There are two main routes that climbers use to summit Grossglockner.
1. The Normal Route: This route is favored for accessibility, beginning from the valley of Kals (Lucknerhaus) or the valley of Heiligenblut and converging at the Erzherzog Johann Hut. It’s marked by scenic trails, glacier crossing, and a climbing grade of Class II per UIAA, making it suitable for the majority of climbers opting to summit Austria’s highest peak. However, it’s not to be underestimated as glacier crossing requires climbers to be well-versed in techniques and maneuvers used for saving from crevasses.
2. Stüdlgrat Route: Offers a more technical ascent, requiring advanced climbing skills, belaying techniques, and full confidence in your abilities to overcome the most technically challenging sections. It’s known for its Class III and IV sections per UIAA on the southwest ridge, presenting a formidable challenge to more experienced climbers with proper equipment.
Preparation and Safety
Climbing Grossglockner requires good fitness and familiarity with alpine safety techniques. Climbers must equip themselves with appropriate gear and possess the skills to navigate its technical difficulties.
Neither of the two routes above should be undertaken by a solo climber. With glacier crossings, there’s always the danger of falling into hidden glacial crevasses, which might only be prevented by being tied to another climber or a guide.
If you have no previous experience with alpinism or even a proper mountaineering education, your safest option is to join a guided climb of Grossglockner.
Mountain Huts
Due to significant elevation gain and altitude, most climbers ascending the Grossglockner make it a 2-day expedition, spending the night at either Stüdlhütte or Erzherzog-Johann-Hütte. These huts need to be booked well in advance despite their large capacities.
Stüdlhütte is typically used by climbers ascending the Stüdlgrat and for winter ascents when Erzherzog-Johann-Hütte is closed. The latter lies only 250 meters below the summit of Grossglockner, making it a more suitable starting point for the final push on the second day of the normal route, as climbers still have the entire descent ahead of them.
Climbing Season
Ascending the Grossglockner is possible almost year-round, mostly limited by hut openings for guided tours. Therefore, the summer climbing season lasts from mid-June to mid-October, while the winter climbing season is fixed between the beginning of March and the beginning of May.
Gear and Equipment
For a successful climb on Grossglockner, your equipment checklist should include:
- Warm mountaineering boots compatible with your crampons
- Approach shoes for technical climbing (for Stüdlgrat)
- Helmet for protection
- Harness for when you tie yourself to other climbers
- Crampons for traction on ice
- Ice axe for stopping yourself in case of a fall
- Ropes and carabiners for safety and navigation
- Belay device for controlled descents and belaying
- Weather-appropriate clothing to protect against the elements
- Sleeping liner to spend the night in the hut
- First aid kit
About Hohe Tauern National Park
Encompassing the magnificent Grossglockner massif and its surrounding area, Hohe Tauern National Park is the oldest national park in Austria, established in 1981, when the first parts around Großglockner and Hochschober in Carinthia were put under protection.
The park’s alpine waters, wildlife, towering mountains, and rich biodiversity make it a popular hiking destination, including several multi-day hikes spanning from hut to hut, such as The Glockner Trail, looping the Grossglockner massif or the Alpe-Adria-Trail, starting from the at the Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe atop the Grossglockner High Alpine Road.
With its natural treasures and numerous hiking trails, the park complements the adventurous spirit of Climb Grossglockner as a playground for the less experienced mountain lovers, finding fulfillment in pleasant hiking paths overlooking Austria’s highest peaks.
Why trust Climb Grossglockner as your guide in the Austrian Alps?
EXPERT LOCAL GUIDES
TOP NOTCH EQUIPMENT
HASSLE-FREE
TRUSTED BY MANY
Things to know
If you have no previous mountaineering experience or proper alpinistic education, you’re most likely not ready to undertake Grossglockner by yourself. Therefore, acquiring a guide is a step in the right direction if you want to get off the mountain in one piece. The guide has essential skills like glacier crossings and belay and rappelling techniques. Without these, you cannot safely ascend and descend the Grossglockner.
Our agency works with various experienced IFMGA-licensed guides. All of them meet the highest standards in mountain climbing and guiding, with 10+ years of experience in this field. You can check them out on Our Mountain Guides page.
Grossglockner is a very popular mountain, attracting thousands of climbers every year. Consequently, the chance that you’d be alone on the mountain is virtually nonexistent, especially during summer. It’s much likelier that you’ll have lots of company, even in your group, as each guide can lead up to 3 clients on the mountain. If you prefer to hire a guide individually, you’ll have to pay a higher price.
Grossglockner isn’t among the most dangerous mountains in the world, as many people safely summit it annually. The only danger could stem from ignorance of the mountain world and your own lack of skills. By joining a guided tour, you rule out 99% of the possibility of a life-threatening mistake.
It depends on how well you are acclimated to the altitude. Normally, an altitude of 3500-4000 meters shouldn’t be severely problematic but can cause some issues for climbers who are physically less prepared. Therefore, climbers usually take two days to summit the Grossglockner, allowing themselves enough time to acclimatize.
If you don’t think the normal route presents enough of a challenge to you, then you can try summiting the Grossglockner along the Stüdlgrat ridge, which includes sections of III+ climbing grade per UIAA, or book a ski-touring ascent if you’re a skilled off-piste skier.
Depending on availability, your ascent of the Grossglockner includes lodging at Erzherzog-Johann-Hütte or Stüdlhütte. Both provide basic accommodation and meals, allowing climbers to gather their strengths before the final push towards the summit.
Given its extreme popularity and dependence on the availability of one of the two mountain huts, we would suggest booking a tour with us as much as six months in advance so that we can guarantee a spot for you.
If climbing the Grossglockner presents too big of a challenge to you, then you can look into booking one of our hut-to-hut hiking tours, which can be done without a guide:
Most people begin their ascent of the Grossglockner from the starting point above Kals am Grossglockner, Lucknerhaus. There’s a large parking space there, meaning you can access it on an asphalt road by car. Getting to Kals is fairly easy by taking a train from one of the nearest airports, such as Munich and Innsbruck.
