STUBAI GLACIER WALK

The glacier from the cable car to Schaufeljoch

Many guidebooks, and the Stubaigletscherbahn's own leaflets, refer to the glacier walk from Eisgrat to Schaufeljoch as being suitable for walks with ordinary hiking boots and trekking poles. However, the hot summer of 2003 has melted the normally thick snow covering on the glacier and it appears that, at present, it is not reliably covered with snow. It normally takes about one hour to walk up the glacier.

Stephen on the ice - definitely not worth breaking a leg for!

We went up on the early bus to Mutterbergalm with the intention of walking from Eisgrat up the glacier to Schaufeljoch. It was very windy and cloud was down to about 3100m. We set off across the ice but turned back after less than 100m. The thin snow cover of two days before, when we had seen people walking down the glacier,  had disappeared and most of the marked path was sheet ice with grit on it. One of the staff at Eisgrat told us that the rain in the previous two days had washed off the snow and the path was now covered with "glatteis" We saw only one walker and he put on his crampons.

We suggest that you find out what conditions are actually like before attempting this walk.