The descent down to the glacier from the ridge was interesting, as along with everyone else we left our skins on which made the icy traversing interesting! We were soon down on the glacier, and feeling suitably small surrounded by the big peaks on the wide snowy glacier.
As we made made good time down to the glacier we decided to carry on with the climb up to the Langtauferer Spitze, which was straightforward on good snow and only a few slightly icy kick turns as we approached the ski depot. As we climbed up the steep slope our bodies certainly knew about the lack of acclimatisation, but this was offset by the view which just kept getting better and better.
As we arrived at the ski depot we were treated to the view over to the other side of the mountain, and to say it was spectacular would be an understatement.
From the ski depot a short walk and then scramble led us to the summit. The Langtauferer Spitze gets a lot less traffic than the nearby Weißkugel, but it is certainly worth the ascent as the summit panorama was truly magnificent. After briefly enjoying the view we made our way back down to the skis and the start of the long descent. From the point the snow deteriorated on the glacier, the descent was long, tiring and at times felt endless, but it did not detract from the overall day as the peak was so good.
The descent was initially on hard snow, but it soon became softer and it turned into a really enjoyable descent back down to the main part of the Hintereisferner. All too soon we were at the main section of the glacier, but thankfully this was really enjoyable until we approached the nose of the glacier.
The lack of snow had really impacted the descent on the final section of the glacier, and it involved lots of skiing over gritty snow, avoiding rocks (not always successfully) and a lot flat terrain. Thankfully we were soon off the glacier and heading down the gorge below the Hochjoch Hospiz, however this was also hard work with a mixture of snow snow, icy lumps and hidden rocks. We skinned up for the traverse below the hut, before starting the 8km descent back to Vent. I had thought this would drag a bit, but I wasn’t prepared for the constant changing between skiing and carrying skis, and the gorge which was protected with a cable which was often burried was certainly a surprise!
We finally emerged from the gorge at the Materialseilbahn for the Vernagthütte, from here it was an easy glide down the icy groomed trail back Rofen and then over the suspension bridge before the final ski back down to Vent and the car.
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