Day One - Dresdner Hütte to Selzenauhütte

The first day of the trek was the route between Dresdner Hütte to Selzenauhütte. The route starts on the east side of the cable car station and immediately ascends. The first section is through a boulder field. The rocks here are of a decent size and look unstable from a distance. But once on the trail, the rocks are solid and some even appear to have been rearranged into a staircase in certain sections. Care should be taken to follow the red and white blazes on the rocks. It is easy to get off course as, unlike a dirt trail, there is often no worn path to orient yourself.

Typical view going through a "boulder field".
Note the blazes on the rocks to see where the
trail goes.

Above the boulder field the trail open up into a rocky, packed
dirt trail.

The first sign post is only about 20 min in and it is decision time. To the left, or roughly North, is the longer, higher route over the Grosser Trögler. To the right is the shorter, lower route over to Bieljoch. It takes an extra hour to go over the Trögler and although the 2900m pass was tempting we opted for an easier route on our first day. That being said, the route to Beiljoch is still a good push. It gave us our first real taste of cable sections. After the split at the sign post the trail begins to switch back to the South and ascends to an outcropping ridge. Once on top of the ridge the trail heads again East through a second, higher and flatter boulder field.

This field leads into the infamous and very well photographed area: Bieljoch. This wide saddle like pass is known for its well over one hundred (and likely growing) stacks of rocks, cairns, marker piles etc. I am tempted to describe them as inuksuk, but they are really are more like piles. The far side of the pass treats you to your first view of a glacier, or the Selzenauferner.

Taken just after starting to descend from Beiljoch. The rock cairns
can be seen in the background.
.

The first view of the Selzenau Glacier from Beiljoch

The descent on the far side of Beiljoch is quite rocky but quick down to the next signpost. There you have the option to head straight for the hut or take the Wildewasserweg detour down to the glacier's melt pool. Both routes are signed as an hour but the latter route was definitely slower as there is so much more to see. The base of glacier is quite a sight. You are standing at the melted water that forms downstream rivers and waterfalls. The edges of the glacier here are very approachable and provide an opportunity to walk on the glacier itself. Extreme caution should always be taken when doing this. I went out about 100 feet and there did not appear to be any crevasses or suspicious areas at all. But we must all respect the changing nature of a glacier, especially in plus 20 degree weather and day after day on non-stop sun. One of the videos in the montage posted for this section (you tube link at the bottom) shows a section of the glacier breaking off that I was lucky enough the catch and film.

 

View from the base of the glacier at the melt pool.

Standing beside the rapids fed by the glacier. Selzenauhütte is
just below the grassy section at the far left.

Walking away from the glacier the trail descends down to a wide flat area along the surging rapids fed by the pool above. The trial gets very close to the rushing water and the sights and sounds make the lower section the definite winner. Once down onto flat ground (ahhh ...that feels good on the knees and quads) it is about 25 min to Selzenauhütte and a cold beer.

Section Summary and Links


Sign Post Time:  3 hours    Our Time:   4.5 hours
Distance:  4.4 Km    Elevation Up: 480m   Elevation Down: 584m

Start Hut: Dresdner Hütte  End Hut:  Selzenauhütte.
GPS overlay on map and elevation versus distance chart - Outdooractive.com
     NOTE: on this GPS overlay the person who recorded it did NOT take the Wildewasserweg route  
     beside the glacial pool

More Pictures and Vidoes

All posted pictures for this section - Picasa
Video clips for this section - Youtube