The alarm goes off. Still half asleep, I stretch my arms and legs as far as they'll go. I sprawl out, try to blink the sleep away and reach one hand towards my backpack. My toothbrush is within easy reach. The washbasin becomes our morning meeting place. With toothpaste in my mouth, I mumble a barely intelligible good morning several times. The clock reads 5:10. Time for breakfast. The coffee finally starts to bring me back to life. Ahead of us lies the climb up the 3.537-metre-high Schalfkogel.
Sunrise in the mountains
Outside the Langtalereckhütte above Obergurgl in the Ötztal the fresh morning air greets us. Slowly, the first rays of sunlight make it over the surrounding peaks, all more than three thousand metres high, bathing the mountains in an orange-red glow. We follow a narrow trail through the twilight towards the Gurgler Ferner, while a spectacular display of colours unfolds in the sky. It's only when we reach the glacier nearly an hour later that the first rays reach the valley, bringing welcome warmth as we put on our crampons.
Easy rock climbing towards the summit
Just a few steps later, boulders rise up in front of us. Roped together, we tackle the easy rock climbing over partly smooth slabs and partly loose scree. The short rope distance of two metres forces me to follow exactly the same route as the woman ahead of me. I pant, trying to keep in step so I don't throw the whole group out of rhythm. This is more strenuous than I thought. The man behind me groans in frustration. "I'm going to untie and do this section on my own," he announces to the rest of the rope team. Not such a bad idea.
Back through snow & ice
So shortly afterwards, we all untie and only rope up again when we have to cross another stretch of glacier just below the summit. After a slippery snowfield, bare ice awaits us on the ridge. Our crampons scrape against the hard surface as we approach our goal step by step. One last effort to stay focused, and then we're standing at the summit cross. We high-five. We made it! Now there's "just" the descent ahead of us.
Tour information
Instead of retracing our ascent route, we descend to the Ramolhaus . In total, the tour over the Schalfkogel takes nearly 8 h and involves more than 1.000 metres of ascent. Anyone who wants to continue beyond the Ramolhaus (3.006 m) and return directly to Obergurgl should allow another 3 h. From the Ramolhaus, an easy narrow path leads down to Gemeinde in the Ötztal.