The Schrammacher is a mountain in the Austrian state of
Tyrol
Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...
. At 3,410 or 3,411 m it is, after the
Olperer, the second highest peak of the Tux ridge of the
Zillertal Alps. With its horn shape and its steep and smooth northwest wall the mountain is imposing from several directions.
Location
The Schrammacher is 4 km north-northwest of the
Pfitscherjoch (on the border of Italy and Austria) and 4 kilometers west of the
Schlegeis reservoir at the head of the
Zillertal. The Alpeiner Scharte (2,969 m) to the north connects Schrammacher to
Fußstein and Olperer, while to the west the adjacent summit is the Sagwandspitze (3,224 m), where the ridge turns south and continues to the Hohe Wand (3,289 m) on the Austrian-Italian border. The East flank descends 1600 m into the ‘’Zamser Grund”” valley, while the 900 m high, steep northwest face, made of slabby rock, dominates the head of the Alpeiner and
Vals Vals is the word for waltz in many European languages.
Vals or VALS may also refer to:
* Peruvian waltz
* Venezuelan waltz
* Vals (dance), a dance related to Argentine tango
* VALS, "Values And Lifestyles," a psychographic segmentation tool
Places ...
valleys to the west. Three glaciers remain on the mountain: the Alpeiner Ferner at the bottom of the northwest wall, the Oberschrammacher Ferner on the southeast slope, and the large Stampflkees to the southwest.
First ascent
The first ascent took place on August 19, 1847, when the
meteorologist, theology professor and mountaineer
Peter Karl Thurwieser
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
from
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the ...
and the local guides Georg Lechner ("Schneider-Jörgl") and Jakob Huber ("Gainer-Jakl") from
Mayrhofen reached the summit from an alp just north of the Pfitscherjoch over the south ridge.
[Anton Farbmacher,]
Ersteigung der Schramaspitze
''Mittheilungen des Deutschen und Oesterreichischen Alpenvereins'', 1901, volume 27, pp. 59-60. (Originally published in ''Boten von und für Tirol und Vorarlberg'', 1847, p. 288-292.) Though an account was published in 1847, this ascent was apparently forgotten by the mountaineering society and in 1875 the journal of the German and Austrian Alpine Club reported a first ascent the previous year by the Hungarian scientist and mountaineer Maurice of Dechy of
Pest
Pest or The Pest may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Pest (organism), an animal or plant deemed to be detrimental to humans or human concerns
** Weed, a plant considered undesirable
* Infectious disease, an illness resulting from an infection
** ...
and the
Sulden
Sulden (; it, Solda ) is a mountain village in South Tyrol, northern Italy. It is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Stilfs.
Geography
Sulden lies at the foot of the Ortler, in the Vinschgau valley east of the Stelvio Pass. It is 1900 m above ...
mountain guide Hans Pinggera. This oversight was only rectified in 1901 in the same journal,
[ and the 1874 ascent is still often quoted as the first.
The first ascent of the northwest face by Fritz Drasch and Johannes Lechner on 25 September 1895 was well ahead of its time, foreshadowing the interest in climbing great north faces starting in the 1920s. In 1951, Hermann Buhl led the first winter ascent of this wall.][ Reinhold Messner and Horst Höfle]
Hermann Buhl: Climbing Without Compromise
The Mountaineers, Seattle, 2000, page 235
Bases and routes
The normal route, and the route of both the 1847 and 1874 ascents, leads from the Pfitscherjoch hut (Pfitscherjochhaus) at 2,248 meters north-northeast across the western edge of the Stampflkees (glacier). The route continues on the south ridge to the summit in moderately difficult climbing (UIAA I-II) in a good 5 hours. Other bases from which Schrammacher is climbed are the Olpererhütte (2,389 m, west above the Schlegeis reservoir) and the Gera hut (2,324 m) at the end of Valser valley. The routes from here take over 6 hours and there is an increased risk of rock falls below the Schrammacher walls.
References
{{reflist
Alpine three-thousanders
Mountains of Tyrol (state)
Zillertal Alps
Mountains of the Alps