Climbing the Großvenediger on 28-29.07.2024

The Großvenediger (3657m) is the fourth-highest mountain in Austria and the highest peak in the Venediger Group. It is located in the Hohe Tauern National Park in the Austrian state of Salzburg.

We started our journey on Sunday the 28th of July 2024 at about 6am in the morning. The drive to the parking lot Hopffeldboden went as planned, and we started our hike at about 11:30 am. Our intended route was to climb the Großvenediger from the North via the Kürsinger Hütte and the Venedigerkees glacier and summit via the Venedigerscharte. For the first day, we planned to hike to the Kürsinger Hut and stay overnight there.

The hike to the Kürsinger Hut was about 14 km long and takes one up from the starting altitude of 1078 m to 2558 m, where the hut is located. The image above shows the view back into the valley from the ascent to the Kürsinger Hut.

We were able to reach the hut around 4pm and spent the afternoon relaxing and preparing for the next day's climb. The evening dinner consisted of a garlic soup, dumplings with eggs, and fruit salad. We also met Anna and Lukas, who were kind enough to lend us some equipment for the next day's climb. After some rope exercises, we went to bed, looking forward to the next day's summit attempt.

The image above displays the view from the Kürsinger Hut towards the Großer Geiger (left) in the morning before the climb to the Großvenediger. Our alarm clock went off at 4:30 am on Monday, and we started our ascent at 5:00 am after a quick breakfast.

The image above shows the lower Venedigerkees glacier on the way to the start of the glacier climb. Once arrived at the glacier, we put on our crampons and roped up for the climb using our climbing harnesses from previous climbs. We used some butterfly loops to ensure that we could stop a fall in case someone slipped on the ice.

The climb on the glacier was comfortable and not too steep (as displayed in the video above).

The experience of climbing the glacier was fantastic, and we enjoyed the view of the surrounding mountains and the glacier itself.

Once we reached the Venedigerscharte, we had to climb a steep section and handle some wider crevasses, which can be seen in the video above. Using the path that was already prepared by other climbers, we managed get accross rather quickly.

After crossing the Veredigerscharte, we had to climb the last few meters to the ridge leading to the summit. The view up there was breathtaking, surrounded by huge glaciers and the Großvenediger summit in front of us. Crossing the ridge required a steady foot and a good head for heights.

Once we reached the summit, we were rewarded with a fantastic view of the surrounding mountains and the Großvenediger itself. The weather was perfect, and we could see the Großglockner in the distance. We spent some time on the summit, taking pictures and enjoying the view before starting our descent.

The climb to the summit took us about 4 hours from the Kürsinger Hut. The descent back to the hut took us 2 hours and 30 minutes, where we met Anna and Lukas again and returned their equipment. The descent back to the parking lot took us another 3 hours. We arrived back at the parking lot at about 5 pm and drove back home after a quick meal at McDonalds. The second day involved a total of 28 km of hiking and climbing and an altitude difference of about 1400 m, a descent of 2400 m and took us about 12 hours in total.

Full Resolution Images

In favor of page loading speed, the images are downscaled. If you want to see the full resolution images, click on the respective links below:

• Click here for the full resolution image of the Großvenediger.
• Click here for the full resolution image of the valley backward view.
• Click here for the full resolution image of the arrival at the Kürsinger Hut.
• Click here for the full resolution image of the view towards the Großer Geiger.
• Click here for the full resolution image of the lower Venedigerkees.
• Click here for the full resolution image of the glacier climb on the Venedigerkees.
• Click here for the full resolution image of the summit.
• Click here for the full resolution image of the view from the summit.