Raaberg

The Raaberg, the easternmost summit of the Mattstock massiv, is only rarely climbed. When it is visited, then usually by either 360 or carpintero, it seems. The Raaberg has an east summit (P. 1723) and a west summit (P. 1779). Only the east summit is named on the map and described in the SAC Clubführer. Strange, because the west summit is actually higher, more spectacular and more enjoyable to climb. We did a full traverse from east to west.

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We hike up from Amden past Niederschlag to Hinter Höhi, where we leave the marked hiking path and soon reach Alp Rah, lying impressively at the eastern foot of the Raaberg. From the alp, we briefly go north before turning left into a grassy gulley. At first the gulley is not too steep, but it gets considerably steeper towards the top. Other reports has advised to stay in the middle of the gulley, but damage and debris from this winter's avalanches have made that option rather sketchy. We in fact opt for a grassy ledge on the right of the gulley (T5+). An ice ace can be useful in the steep grass here. It would not be a very pleasant route in descent.

From the saddle at the top of the gully, the grassy south-east ridge of the Raaberg east summit (steep, but not quite as bad as before) almost brings us to the summit. The summit itself is defended by some dense pine trees. After fighting our way through, we find ourselves on the Raaberg east summit.

The ridge from the east summit to the west summit has a high density of pines again. We descend a little into the south face, until we find a passable way through. There are some traces of a path, but repeatedly we have to climb through pine shrubs as well. A minor top near the lowest point between the two summits is best traversed directly along the ridge. Afterwards, a vague path traverses into the south face of the Raaberg west summit and brings us to the foot of a limestone gulley. We scramble up the gulley (I-II, not too exposed) and find ourselves on the ridge, not far from the summit. After passing a first pinnacle along the north side (a little bit of snow here, not too much of a problem though) we reach the Raaberg west summit directly along the ridge. The highest rock (with the ice axe-like sculpture) can be climbed (grade III, not exposed). We're only the second visitors to enter our names into the log book that carpintero put here in August 2015. This might also have to do with the fact that the log book is well hidden away under a pile of stones at the foot of the rock with the sculpture.

We start the descent along the north-west ridge of P. 1779 with some interesting scrambling: squeezing through a gap and down-climbing a small step (II, quite exposed). Soon, the descent becomes a lot easier. From Bärenfall, we roughly follow the ski lift. Between Walau and Niederschlag, there's one final highlight, a double Nepalese bridge over an impressive canyon (photo). After an ice cream at Niederschlag (really, what a name...), we take the ski lift back down to Amden (7 CHF).