Hello everyone,
This time we are happy to share an alpine SOTA adventure from the highest summit in OE/TI and at the same time the second highest summit of Austria the Wildspitze OE/TI-002.
The group members were Sylvia OE5YYN, Daniel OE5HDX, Dominik, Robert, Bertram (our guide) and Joe OE5JFE.
The summit is located near the town of Vent in the Ötztal - not too far from where the famous glacier mummy Ötzi was found. The second highest mountain in Austria by the way is of course a guarantee for an extraordinary high alpine adventure.
The warm summer season made us question this endeavour upfront. Rock- and icefall from the glaciers were unfortunatly to common this season. But good planning using a less impacted route made it possible.
An early start was needed so we began our trip on Friday by train and bus to the town Vent. There we hiked up to 2844 m a.s.l to the Breslauerhütte. A very nice and well organized mountainhut.
After a fun and relaxed dinner we went to bed early as the alarm would ring already before 5 o’clock in the morning.
After breakfast and packing up all our gear we were on our way at 5:50. Headlamps on until the sunrise welcomed the new day.
We reached the edge of the first glacier and put our gear on. With changing weather conditions we traversed crevasses and ice plates covered by a fresh layer of snow.
Making our way upward the thin air made it more and more challenging. Breathing frequency and heartrate climing to new levels.
Slow but steady we made it to the Taschferner glacier and followed the footsteps of others. So we unintentionally ended up at the Jubiläumsgrat (ridge) which was not too bad overall.
We reached the northern firn summit and shortly after that the main summit at 3768m after 5 hours of ascend.
Everyone was happy and for a short while the clouds opened and we felt the warm sun.
Of course with 3 radio amateurs it was time for SOTA.
Sylvia OE5YYN and Joe OE5JFE setup their 2m stations and Daniel OE5HDX brought this KX2 with the AX1 antenna to work HF.
Have a look at the video to see our minimal setup in action.
Chasers and fellow activators were already in position waiting for us despite our delay. @OE6PGM and @OE5MKE were working us S2S from OK/JC-001 Plechy 306 km away.
Markus @IN3ADF was mobilizing his local club members and was the first in our log. A big thanks to our radio friends in IN3. Great support and a pleasure to meet you all on the air.
DL was also in the log multiple time with contact to OM near Munich and beyond.
Daniel worked 12 stations on 20 m SSB including @OE7MPI/P Michael and @OE7MPN/P Veronika for a S2S.
The perfect HF setup for the small summit area.
But the cold temperatures and our waiting hiking partners reminded us to packup and make our way onward.
Down via the normal path - mastering a grade II climing section - we reached the glacier.
Linked again with a rope - iceaxe ready - we continued of another 4 hours on the glacier. Vigiland at every crevasse our focus was challenged in addition to the physical demands.
After a total of 11 hours we reached the hut Taschachhaus and enjoyed our well deserved dinner and celebrated our success.
Great team work made it happen.
Video:
And some pictures:
Hiking up from town Vent
Breslauerhütte in view
Hut reached 2844m
Great views
Getting ready glacier gear on
Sun still out
And into the clouds
On the ridge to the summit
Jubiläumsgrat in the clouds
Summit reached
Getting ready for SOTA (Sylvia OE5YYN and Daniel OE5HDX)
Summit cross
SOTA in 3768 m - with a little bit of sun 
Crevasses hopping on Taschaschferner glacier
Mind every step
And of course this is part of my OE5JFE Tops of SOTA Austria challenge. So another one to tick off the list:
- 25 Jun 2018 OE/KT-001 Großglockner
- 28 Oct 2021 OE/NO-001 Klosterwappen
- 29 Oct 2021 OE/BL-020 Rosalienkapelle (Rosalia)
- 29 Oct 2021 OE/WI-001 Hermannskogel
- 16 Jun 2022 OE/ST-001 Hochgolling, 2862m
- 18 Jun 2022 OE/OE-001 Dachstein, 2995m
- 27 Aug 2022 OE/TI-002 Wildspitze, 3768m
- TODO OE/VB-001 Großer Piz Buin, 3312m
- TODO OE/SB-339 Großes Wiesbachhorn, 3564m
- Bonus; Haidachsteilwand OE/TL-001 - just because Tyrol is split in two assoziations
73 de Joe
But it was worth it. Congratulations on this joint successful activation and glad that everyone is back in good health 
Thanks for this exciting video report.
!