Axamer Lizum - Marchreisenspitze (Lustige Bergler Steig)

Access to starting point:
From Ljubljana, we drive on the highway past Salzburg in the direction towards München. At the multilevel junction Dreieck Inntal we go on the road A93 in the direction of Innsbruck/Kufstein/Brenner. When we return to Austria we continue to the junction with the exit Innsbruck-West. There we continue on Egger-Lienz-Straßein and we turn towards Axams in direction Axamer Lizum. We continue driving to Axams, where a signpost points us to an ascending but comfortable asphalt road which we follow to a free parking lot at the ski slope Axamer Lizum. From the center of Innsbruck to Axamer Lizum is approximately half an hour of driving.

Alternatively we can drive through northern Italy: in this case from the main Slovenia on the highway A2 we drive to one of the border crossings with Austria and we continue towards Lienz. Here we continue on the road 100 and past the passage Prato alla Drava we drive into Italy. In Italy we follow the road SS49 all the way to the juncture with highway A22 in the direction towards the mountain pass Brenner. After the mountain pass, we continue in the direction towards Innsbruck to the exit Innsbruck-Süd. At the junction, we go on the road B182 and we continue driving to Axams. From there we follow the upper description.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we go past the center of ski center Axamer Lizum on the macadam road and we go towards the gable of valley below the rocky peaks of Kalkkögel. Following the signposts for Marchreisenspitze after few minutes of walking on the road we go left on a narrower footpath which at first crosses the meadow. Soon the path turns to the right and starts lightly ascending through a thin forest on the southern slope of Schneiderspitze. A little higher, the forest gets thinner, and footpath horizontally crosses a grazing slope and ascends towards the saddle Halsl, on which there is a crossing of numerous paths, and also the alternative path on Marchreispitze joins, which to the saddle leads from the valley Stubaital. From the parking lot at Axamer Lizum to the saddle is a little more than hour of walking.

From Halsl we continue in the direction of Ampferstein and Marchreispenspitze or path "Lustige Bergler" - signpost warns, that it is appropriate only for experienced mountaineers. In the initial part, the path is in zig-zags moderately ascending on a grassy slope of unnamed hill in Kalkkögel, but it is still technically undemanding. After a good 30 minutes of walking from Halsl we get to a gully, which is falling deeply towards Axamer Lizum, and by its edge we ascend to a wide ridge one of the secondary peaks of Ampferstein. Further, the path for some time easily leads on panoramic grassy-scree terrain, until after approx. 45 minutes of walking from Halsl, we get to the foot of rocky massif of Ampferstein. Before the descent into a hollow, where there is the beginning of a secured part of the path on Ampferstein, we cross a slightly exposed passage above the steep gully, and then with the help of first fixed safety gear on the path (exceptions are some sort of narrow pipes) we descend to a plain in an extremely scenic environment. From the hollow, with the help of steel cables we ascend on a path which leads on an exposed ledge and continues on a steep slope, where we occasionally get help from fixed safety gear. A little later, the footpath passes into a continuously secured path, where with the help of steel cables it is ascending over steep rocky jumps. After a short crossing of an outside corner in the wall of Ampferstein follows almost vertical ascent over a rocky band, where we get help also from stemples. After that, the steepness decreases a little, and the secured path brings us to the top of the gully below the upper part of Ampferstein. To the top of Ampferstein we continue on the path which crosses steep grassy slopes high above Stubai valley. After approx. 15 minutes of additional walking, we get to a crossroad just below the top of Ampferstein, from where to the top with a large cross there is only few minutes of ascent.

From the top of Ampferstein we descend to a crossroad and we continue walking on the path "Lustige Bergler" towards Marchreisenspitze. At first, we descend to few ten meters lower connecting ridge between Ampferstein and Marchreisenspitze, and then we find ourselves in front of the key part of the path: a narrow chimney, which we climb with the help of vertical steel cables and stemples, which help us at demanding ascent. After the chimney we for some time follow technically less demanding path on a wide panoramic ridge, until the steel cable brings us on a shorter exposed ledge, to which follows a descent on a crumbly terrain to the foot of the main massif of Marchreisenspitze. From here with occasional help of steel cables we cross partly exposed slopes below the walls of Marchreisenspitze. Soon the path brings us to the end of a narrow and a steep gully, where we go steeply upwards, following the sign "Mar". Through a very crumbly gully (if behind us are ascending other mountaineers, we have to be very careful, that we don't trigger stones) with the help of series of steel cables we climb a little to the spot, where the path goes sharply to the right on the ledge in the wall of Marchreisenspitze. The ledge from which wonderful views open up towards the south, turns over the edge, narrows and above the precipitous hollow crosses an exposed wall of Marchreisenspitze; the path on this spot is well secured with steel cables. After the ledge, the path in zig-zags continues on a grassy notch, which brings us to rugged and relatively gentle wall, on which with the help of steel cables we ascend to the upper spaces of Marchreisenspitze. Here the difficulty and the steepness decrease, and to the top with a large cross and a mighty view we only have few minutes of easy walking.

Despite that the path "Lustige Bergler Steig" is usually described as part of modern ferratas, its route and difficulty reminiscent more of very demanding secured paths in Slovenian high-mountains. On Austrian scale of secured paths it reaches relatively modest grade B, in spite of that it is recommended to use the self-belay set, and the helmet because of in parts very crumbly terrain in limestone mountain range is pretty much mandatory. For the descent are appropriate a demanding marked path, which through saddle Malgrubenshcharte leads directly towards the saddle Widdersberg and to Axamer Lizum, and a longer a little more demanding variant, which after Malgrubenscharte ascends to the top Hochtennspitze and through a steep gully descends towards the saddle Hoaldl and to the starting point.

On the way: sedlo Halsl (1992m), Ampferstein (2556m)