Sulzenau Hut – Dresdner Hut.

The breakfasts are getting better – muesli with yoghurt and boiled eggs as well as the usual bread and cheese. It seems to be normal to make a sandwich or two for the day ahead. We seem to be getting fitter and were up the valley in no time taking the higher route which crossed a rock buttress on unique metal planks.The path now followed the lateral moraine of the Sulzenau Ferner glacial system with close up views of the snout and lake. The mountain in the background is the 3500m Zuckerhuetl which the rockman had climbed aged 16yrs whilst on an Alpine Climbing Course he had enrolled himself onto. On the same trip his guide had fallen and broken his leg leaving the16yr old to help with a rescue – baptism of fire. We trod carefully on the steep rocky slope leading to Peiljoch not wanting a repeat occurrence. This col was a strange eerie place with a multitude of stone cairns more reminiscent of the Himalayas than Austria. There was no obvious reason for these apart from the abundance of flat stones. It was a nice place to sit around for awhile in the sun enjoying the views of the glaciers and onwards to the next hut in the vast Gamsgarten cirque  with unfortunately all the associated ski and gondola construction work.Our way down all the stones was interesting, someone over the years has used them to ‘pave’ a path through the chaos. Eventually we walked along an airy rocky ridge with dramatic views down to the Dresdner Hut and then it was onto endless moraine debris again.The Dresdner was a large modern building, more like a hotel than a hut and being adjacent to the gondola stations coming up from the valley and going to the top of the Stubaier Wildspitze was busy with day trippers. We considered a trip to the top but clouds were coming in so we just relaxed in the sun over soup and radlers.We were allotted a room already partly occupied with only the awkward top bunks free but playing the ‘bad back’ card managed to swap to a smaller room. Much cosier – we are getting soft.The restaurant was a large self service affair and we enjoyed yet another good filling meal. We met the only Brit we had encountered on the trip – a tough Glaswegian trekking with an oriental lady, an odd couple. Chatting to other walkers there was talk of a difficult high icy col and glacier crossing en-route to the next hut, Neue Regensburger. This was already going to be an 8 hour day with the potential problems well into the day with no easy retreat or return. Others were opting out and the hut warden thought it a very long hard day [looking us up and down!] so over a few beers we too came up with plan B. Simple really – go down on the cable car, catch a bus down the valley and then walk directly up to the hut.