Page Type: | Mountain/Rock |
---|---|
Activities: | Hiking, Mountaineering |
Season: | Summer, Fall |
Elevation: | 7070 ft / 2155 m |
Loreagruppe, one of the easternmost areas of Lechtaler Alpen, host some very lonely and rarely visited peaks. Suwaldspitzen are among them.
There are two summits, Vordere Suwaldspitze to the north and Hintere Suwaldspitze, a bit to the south of and 4 m higher than the northern twin. A nearby rock outcrop of the south ridge of Hintere Suwaldspitze is called Hoher Schrofen, unresting peak baggers will call that “summit”, too.
Suwaldspitzen are bordered by Älpelestal to the northeast and Loreatal / Rotlechtal to the southwest. The north – south runnig ridge, coming from Hönig / Sonnberg / Joch to the north of Vordere Suwaldspitze bends to the southeast, goes on to Hintere Suwaldspitze and bends there to the east, dropping down into a wide saddle and swinging up to Steinmanndlspitze, another unattended and lonely summit of Loreagruppe.
To summit Suwaldspitzen means hiking on unmarked trails and even off-trail, a traverse of these peaks requires rock scrambling and a short climb with grade I+ moves. The views to the south into the lonely and remote heart of Loreagruppe is fascinating, intriguing and a bit scary. Not without meaning one of the Lorea summits over there is called Unheimlicher Kopf, eerie peak ...........
Trailhead for Suwaldspitzen is Berwang.
You reach the trailhead by car:
Berwang trailhead: At Berwang center follow the signs for Gröben, an upper part of Berwang village. There is a huge parking area at the Hönig ski lift valley station.
Public transportation:
Nearby railroad station is: Bichlbach. Bus number 151 goes to Berwang.
Hönig, Suwaldspitzen and Steinmandlspitze Routes:
Best trailhead for Suwaldspitzen is Berwang / Höniglift parking area.
Route 1:
Route 2:
Follow the trail from the trail junction at Älpelestal to Sonnberg col until the trail starts to climb up to the col. Leave the trail to the left and ascend off-trail the northern slopes in front of you (some bushwacking required) until you reach an upper near level part of the valley. There is a scree field in front of you going up to the col between Steinmanndlspitze and Hintere Suwaldspitze. You soon will find an unmarked trail going up to this col. Turn right there and follow the rocky east ridge off-trail to Hintere Suwaldspitze (some grade I+ moves, interesting). Don´t use the visible and luring hunters trail south of the ridge to Hintere Suwaldspitze. You will get lost!
The traverse Vordere to Hintere Suwaldspitze is about 10 minutes on an unmarked track.
Hoher Schrofen can be reached in another ten minutes from Hintere Suwaldspitze.
The traverse Hintere Suwaldspitze - Steinmandlspitze uses the east ridge of the first and then the easy but off-trail west ridge of the latter; allow 1,5 hours for the traverse.
No Red Tape as far as I know
Accommodation:
No mountain huts in this area
Suwaldspitzen can be summited in late spring, summer and autumn. These summits require hiking gear and good shoes.
The traverse has some short grade I climbing moves along the east ridge of Hintere Suwaldspitze and some off-trail parts.
Weather at Berwang:
Alpenvereinskarte, scale 1 : 25000
Number 4/1, Wetterstein und Mieminger Gebirge West, edition 2016 with trails and UTM-grid
Österreichische Karte, scale 1 : 50000
Number 2221, Imst, with UTM-grid, BEV – Bundesamt für Eich- und Vermessungswesen, Wien
Österreichische Karte, scale 1 : 25000
Number 2221-Ost, Erwald, with UTM-grid, BEV – Bundesamt für Eich- und Vermessungswesen, Wien, edition 2013