15 March 2016

Muttekopf hutte, Austria

The weather was overcast, and the forecast was not good for tomorrow. A brief discussion last night had lead to us staying an extra night, and exploring something nearby. The local ski area to Imst had an interesting set of options off the top of the ski area,There was also a route supposedly for touring from the bottom to the mid-station.
We drove up, through the town, and out to the parking area. It took us a while to get ready, being the first day of the trip.
A quick reconnaissance showed that the touring route was very bare.. and we would be walking a lot, the options were to go up the piste or buy a ticket and go from the top. We took the cheaper option.
Heading up the piste - not very busy as we were midweek and in the low season,
After the first steep section we then tracked the "Alpine Coaster" up to the mid-station.
There was only a few other people coming down.
The mid-station was the first target, and as we were both feeling OK we continued on across to next station Latschenhutte - rather than up tot he top station as this was very steep, but also it gave us the opportunity to go onto the Muttekopf hutte.

This track was a lot gentler than the first one, and equally even less populated
At the top of the piste there was initially, no sign of the Latschenhutte .. it was beyond and around the corner.
We followed the signs to the Muttekopf hutte, which followed the stream heading up to head of the valley ona well tracked path.
Looking back we could see the other hut.
The valley turned sharply left and upwards after a while and stayed on the path. The ground became more rocky with shrubs and the path winding around and between.
To our right was a cable lift to take supplies up to the hut. This also showed us where we were heading.
The last section to the hut was the steepest, and iciest, however it also started to snow and the wind got stronger.

The hut gave a convenient bench to sit on and shelter to hide in for lunch and also transform for the descent, albeit on the snowdrift on the porch.
The descent was the reverse of the ascent. The initial section of the descent was crusty, but this eased up into firn on the well tracked section.
Very quickly we were back at the piste.
The piste was slightly soft, but was ideal to refresh the memory and regain the ski legs.
Back at the bottom, we passed a trailer advertising the hut (but in a summer environment).
Back at the van we packed up and headed for the hostel to cleanup, and another dinner at the Gasthof Neuner.