With the splitboard to Ötzi’s discovery site

Throughout the year, the archeoParc offers guided tours to the Ötzi discovery site, the Ötzi Glacier Tour.
Time and again, our colleagues are asked unusual questions about the tour. We have forwarded the following interesting question to archeoparc employee Silvia Tumler, herself an experienced hiker and ski tourer:

‘Can I take part in the Ötzi Glacier Tour Ski with a splitboard?’

Of course, new winter sports equipment always raises new and interesting questions for us. Whether you can take part in the Ötzi Glacier Tour Ski with a splitboard or whether the tour is manageable with a splitboard is something I thought about myself as a ski tourer, researched on the internet and spoke to an experienced ski tourer who knows the area.

Tour route

Below I briefly describe the route of the tour, most of which runs over glaciers, meaning that there are only a few short, steep climbs.
We start our tour at the valley station of the Val Senales Glacier cable car in Maso Corto, from where we take the gondola up to the Grawand mountain station. After a short briefing from the mountain guide, we first ski or splitboard down the piste across the glacier to the Finail lifts. We cross the lifts, leave the secured piste and head into open terrain. Depending on the snow conditions, we can traverse another section or make a short descent onto the Hochjoch-Ferner.
Then it’s time to put on our skins and keep going uphill!
We reach our highest point, the Hauslabjoch (3280 m), via the Kreuzferner. A short descent takes us to the Tisenjoch (3210 m), the place where Ötzi was found.
After the ascent to the Hauslabjoch, we hope for good snow conditions for the descent into the Hochjoch valley.
There we put on our skins again for the final ascent to the ski piste, where we return to Kurzras via the valley descent.

Equipment

As you can see, we are mostly travelling on glaciers or on secured pistes. However, we can still expect one or two short but steep ascents. For these passages, it is advisable to have crampons with you. As with any tour in open terrain, you will also need complete avalanche equipment with probe, shovel and avalanche transceiver.

So if you know how to use your splitboard on the ascent and descent, even off-piste, and have a good basic level of fitness, nothing stands in the way of an unforgettable glacier experience.

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Or send us your questions to info@archeoparc.it