An introductory version of the 360VR Sessions brought to you thanks to Blue Tomato! Crafted to help you explore and better plan your own tours. Future iterations will include drone shots to help you better understand the terrain, draw better lines, thus increasing your safety! This is great news also for the injured shredders, who get a chance to enjoy the mountains at least virtually! 😎
There are several ways to get to the Gruberscharte, this is one of them. With good snow conditions, I call this a “lazy tour” for us, the season pass owners. With low effort (barely ca. 300m vertical total) and amazing views, it’s one of the most rewarding at over 1000m vertical meters of shred. Just make sure you go there at the right time!
After you get up with the Dachstein gondola, the glacier with the short lifts is called the Schladminger Gletscher. If open, take the J-bar on the looker’s right and from the top of it keep on the right side under the Koppenkarstein until you come across a steep section (Watch for avalanches and/or hollow sharky areas!). Afterwards try to keep as much on the right side while traversing. This saves you some effort for the short hike you’re about to make (just 30-50m). This section is usually blown out, so you can easily hike/walk on the rocks until you see a slope towards Landfriedstein. Make sure you keep quiet and if you’re lucky, you may come across a gang of Snow Chicks not giving a single damn if it’s -20°C and windy!
Alternatively you can ride directly from the top gondola station to the bottom station of Mitterstein Chairlift and even take a piste. In such case it might be better to start skinning up from there, ommitting the short, but tasty ride down to the Koppenkar mentioned above.
When you arrive at the Gruberscharte, a magnificient bowl in front of you is split in two halves via Mitterstein (2060m, not to be confused with the lifts below the Schladminger glacier). You can take either way, but beware of the slope, the left side (east) is best approached from the very left (official Summer route). If you feel like traversing, this direction can get you to nearby Guttenberghaus as well. The right side gets more sun from the east, so watch out on warmer days!
Making your way through the ridge, continue through the forrest on your right. You will come across a slope with a J-bar lift, which you can use for an extra ride (given you have at least the SkiAmade season pass) and enjoy the views on the south faces of this mountain range.
Continue to the right, use existing crosscountry tracks to your advantage; finish at the Stierer bus station, from where you get back to the Dachstein lift bottom station with a free skibus. Timetables at rvb.at.
Disclaimer
At no instance should my tour descriptions serve as a definitive guide, please do not rely solely on my tips and descriptions, as they may be imprecise! Makes sure you check the current snow conditions, follow the avalanche warnings at lawine.at and use other sources to confirm your intended plans! Also please do not try to redo my mission strategy or approach, as that might not suit you or current weather/snow situation. Simply put: just make sure you play it as safe as possible and never rely on just one source of information. I can take no responsibilty for the accuracy of the provided content!
