Preparations in the Alps at Similaun (3606 m)

August/September 2009

We wanted to use the ”testing weekend” to get used to our gear, and working in a team. We picked the Similaun region in the Ötztal Alps for this, as it is well accessible for a weekend and there are still some nice glaciers around.

We pitched the tent on a glacier near the Similaun Hut at about 3000 m altitude and climbed nearby peaks from there. The highlight was the ascent to Similaun summit (3606 m) on a wonderful sunny morning. Night temperatures down to -10 °C gave some possibility to get used to cold nights. We collected our first information about fuel and gas usage when melting snow, of course knowing that these values would not even be good for base camp later...

Overall we had a very good time and could identify some weak points in our equipment that could then be adjusted until leaving for “real”.