Schwarze Wand Ridge Round
Technical difficulty: 8/10
Fitness: 7/10
Objective danger: 9/10
Landscape: 9/10
Busy: 1/10 (8/10 on the last few kms)
A rarely visited technical ridge loop in Obernberg.
Starting point: Obernberg Hiking Parking lot
Ending point: Obernberg Hiking Parking lot
Length: 22km
Vertical: 2100m
Speed: most of the loop is really technical and slow going
Route:
We start from the parking lot on the road into the valley westwards. We pass the last few houses, the road turns into a forest road and starts climbing north up the hill. The climb starts out gentle. We follow the forest road up and up all the way to the Kastnerbergalm. We keep following the forest road for a little more, before a trail turns of and climbs higher up above the road.
After passing a small hut, we connect back to the forest road (follow the GPS). We join the trail of Gschnitztaler Hüttentour traversing the hillside westwards. We pass a small hut at Innere Wildgrube. The trail climbs to the ridge and reaching the saddle at Gstreinjöchl. We tip over to the Gschnitz-side of the valley and start the steep descent through zig-zags towards Tribulaunhütte.
Shortly before the hut, we take the trail sharply south and start ascending again through a steep scree field. The trail completely disappears in places. The scree field is very slippery so watch your step. We soon reach the saddle. From here the most technical parts of the round start.
We head eastwards uphill through a series of fixed ropes and rock steps. We keep climbing towards the rocky outcrop above us. The terrain changes between steps of lose rock and some easy scrambling. Don’t miss the turn up a short fixed rope to the summit of Schwarze Wand (2917m) with an old wooden cross at the top. We backtrace a few meters and continue along the trail on the east side of the ridge following it south-east.
We follow along the summit plateau, passing some non-prominent summits along the way. We go through the summits of Nördlicher Rosslauf (2881m) and Pfeiferspitz (2827m). The ridge starts descending down steeply, passing the summit of Südlicher Rosslauf (2378m) before the last steep descent towards the saddle at Portjoch.
We turn north and head towards the well-visible Obernberg lakes in the distance. We cross through the meadows full of cows. Eventually, we join the forest road and follow the right side of the lake to the end. All that’s left now is just a short distance downwards on the trail back towards the parking lot.
Photos by @the.running.nomad and @bennibru
