Granatspitze
Encyclopedia
The Granatspitze is the mountain giving its name to the Granatspitze Group
in the High Tauern, the Alpine backbone of Austria. This, despite the fact that several peaks in this group are actually higher, for example the Stubacher Sonnblick which is less than a kilometre to the north and two metres higher. But, unlike, its oft-climbed neighbour, the Granatspitze is more rarely frequented due to the level of difficulty of the ascent. The steep summit block of this striking peak is made of granite
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s at the notch of Untere Keeswinkelscharte (II-).
Granatspitze Group
The Granatspitze Group is a sub-group of the Central Alps within the Eastern Alps. Together with the Ankogel Group, the Goldberg Group, the Glockner Group, the Schober Group, the Kreuzeck Group, the Venediger Group, the Villgraten Mountains and the Rieserferner Group, the Granatspitze Group forms...
in the High Tauern, the Alpine backbone of Austria. This, despite the fact that several peaks in this group are actually higher, for example the Stubacher Sonnblick which is less than a kilometre to the north and two metres higher. But, unlike, its oft-climbed neighbour, the Granatspitze is more rarely frequented due to the level of difficulty of the ascent. The steep summit block of this striking peak is made of granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
.
Ascent
The easiest ascent runs from Rudolfs Hut initially westwards towards the notch of the Granatscharte, turning south in front of it to continue along the East Ridge (Ostgrat) to the summit. This route takes about 3 hours and has a climbing grade of II-. Another option is offered by the North Ridge (Nordgrat) with its several pinnacles or rock towers (Grattürme), but this is more difficult, albeit still II-. The South Ridge is also an option, especially from the East Tyrolean side. This can be reached from the Karl Fürst Hut, an emergency shelter west of the Stubacher Sonnblick, crossing the Prägratkees glacier, which has several difficult crevasseCrevasse
A crevasse is a deep crack in an ice sheet rhys glacier . Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the sheer stress generated when two semi-rigid pieces above a plastic substrate have different rates of movement...
s at the notch of Untere Keeswinkelscharte (II-).
Sources and maps
- Geord Zlöbl: Die Dreitausender Osttirols im Nationalpark Hohe Tauern. Verlag Grafik Zloebl, Lienz-Tristach 2005, ISBN 3-200-00428-2
- Alpine Club map sheet 39, 1:25.000, Granatspitzgruppe. Österreichischer Alpenverein, 2002, ISBN 3-928777-75-0