Plattinger (2615 m) & Verdinser Plattenspitze (2680 m)

Plattinger (2615 m) & Verdinser Plattenspitze (2680 m) are two peaks east of Meran. The area has numerous hiking trails, and is easily accessible with the aerial cable car Meran 2000. The two peaks in my hike are not visited that often though. There is no marked trail going up to Plattinger, and the trail to Verdinser Plattenspitze is marked as a via ferrata. However, it is not really a via ferrata, but rather a T4 hiking trail where exposed sections are safeguarded with steel cables.

For the first hour of the hike I followed the easy trail from Piffinger Köpfl to Missensteiner Joch. The weather was not (yet) that great, with low clouds and fog. From Missensteiner Joch, I headed straight up the grassy SE flank towards the summit of Plattinger. It is fairly steep, but with nice steps. Over a distance of 900 m, the elevation gain is more than 400 m. I would rate the hiking difficulty T3+. During the ascent I came above the fog, and it was a really nice scenery with the mountain tops embedded in patches of fog.

After a short break at the summit of Plattinger, I hiked down to Plattingerscharte. It is very steep, but there are some path traces. I would rate the hiking difficulty T4 for this descent. At Plattingerscharte, I met another hiker who came down from Verdinser Plattenspitze. He confimed my guess that the trail is not too difficult, and that a via ferrata climbing set is not required (at least for someone used to T4 hikes, and in dry conditions). So I decided to go for Verdinser Plattenspitze as well. The trail is safeguarded with steel cables in numerous places, and in a few places I found them very useful. Overall I would rate the hiking difficulty T4 and climbing difficulty I, when using the steel cables in the most difficult and most exposed places.

Unfortunately, the view from Verdinser Plattenspitze was limited, because patches of fog had meanwhile moved in. For the descent, I obviously followed the same way back to Plattingerscharte. From there I headed down the couloir where the marked trail to Verdinser Plattenspitze goes (T3+), and then back to Piffinger Köpfl on the easy trails.

Equipment:
- Hiking sticks
- Via ferrata climbing set (not used)