Grossglockner Ski Touring
Experience the unique challenge of ski-touring Grossglockner, Austria’s highest peak
Navigate through snow-covered landscapes and cross the vast Pasterze glacier under the guidance of IFMGA-certified experts
Enjoy the thrill of carving turns on untouched snow with panoramic alpine views as your backdrop
Decide with your guide the best spot for a safe and exhilarating descent, customized to match your skiing skills
Summit Austria’s iconic peak in winter, combining mountaineering achievements with the joy of ski touring
Brave Grossglockner's winter peak
Ski Grossglockner's untouched snow
Witness the Eastern Alps' winter glory
Rest at Stüdlhütte's winter refuge
Find your descent in Alpine grandeur
Navigate the Pasterze Glacier's snows
Itinerary
Your Grossglockner ski-touring adventure begins at Lucknerhaus, the starting point for most expeditions aiming to summit Austria’s highest peak. Your guide will meet you there to embark toward Stüdlhütte, where you’ll spend the night. The section to Stüdlhütte isn’t too steep and you’ll be making smooth progress on your skis.
5 km and 900 m of elevation gain
Stüdlhütte
Today, the ascent gets more technical. First, you’ll need to cross the Pasterze glacier, meaning your guide will rope you up and lead you safely across. For the final part of your journey, your guide will consult you on your skiing skills, thus deciding where you’ll begin skiing down. The last part would require you to take off your skis, with the technical problems reaching the II grade on the UIAA scale, winter making it even more challenging. After the climb, you’ll descend to the starting point at Lucknerhaus.
Ascent and descent depend on the conditions
Guided
Included in price
What to bring to the tour
Description
Take on the Grossglockner with a ski-touring ascent for experienced off-piste skiers seeking a winter mountain challenge. This journey combines the adrenaline of skiing untouched snow with the accomplishment of reaching Austria’s highest peak.
The adventure spans two days, where the serene yet demanding landscape of Grossglockner tests your skiing prowess and mountain skills.
Crossing the Pasterze glacier demands cautious navigation and expertise, particularly in winter. As the summit approach becomes more technical, skiers will find sections where skiing directly from the top isn’t feasible due to steep, challenging terrain.
Instead, you and your guide will identify an optimal point for descent based on conditions and comfort level, ensuring a memorable ski back amidst the Eastern Alps‘ grandeur.
Guidance comes from IFMGA-certified guides, experienced in both ski-touring and high-altitude climbs, ensuring safety and enriching your mountain experience.
This ascent is only suitable for experienced off-piste skiers capable of ascending and descending steep mountain terrain on skis and crampons. We streamline your experience, covering essential logistics and gear needs (apart from ski boots) so you can focus on the adventure ahead.
Join us for an unparalleled ski-touring experience on the Grossglockner, where steep slopes and deep snow create the ultimate alpine skiing adventure.
Location
Start planning today!
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.
