White ball

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White ball
Weißkugel from the northeast, from the Vorderen Brochkogel

Weißkugel from the northeast, from the Vorderen Brochkogel

height 3738  m above sea level A.
location Tyrol , Austria and South Tyrol , Italy
Mountains Ötztal Alps
Dominance 14.5 km →  Wildspitze
Notch height 568 m ↓  Langtauferer Joch
Coordinates 46 ° 47 '52 "  N , 10 ° 43' 34"  E Coordinates: 46 ° 47 '52 "  N , 10 ° 43' 34"  E
Weißkugel (Ötztal Alps)
White ball
First ascent 1845 by Johann Gurschler and Josef Weitthalm
Normal way South ridge ( I )

The white ball ( Italian Palla Bianca ) is with a height of 3738  m above sea level. A. after the Wildspitze, the second highest mountain in the Ötztal Alps . It lies on the border between the Austrian state of Tyrol and the Italian province of South Tyrol . The easiest ascent is as an alpine tour from Hintereisjoch over the south ridge .

The common name of the white ball today is based on a misinterpretation of the endonym Weißkogel . In Tyrol, a special, hood-like shape of the mountain peak is called a "Kogel" . For this reason, some also speak of the white ball.

Due to its central location, the view from the Weißkugel is one of the most comprehensive in the entire Alps. It ranges from the Bernese Alps and individual peaks of the Valais Alps in the west to the Glarus Alps , Rhaetian Alps and Bernina Group , Ortler Alps , Brenta , Dolomites and Grossglockner to the Schober Group in the east. The mountain was first climbed in 1845 or 1846 by the Schnalsern Johann Gurschler and Josef Weitthalm.

Location and surroundings

The Weißkugel, completely surrounded by glaciers, lies at the intersection of the Schnals- and Weißkamm ridge . To the east is the extensive Hintereisferner , to the west, beyond the Hintereisjoch , at an altitude of 3460 meters, the Matscher Ferner and to the north the Langtauferer Ferner . It sends pronounced ridges to the west, east and south. Neighboring mountains are the 3553 meter high Innere Bärenbartkogel in the northwest and the Langtauferer Spitze with 3528 meters in the northeast, separated by the Weißkugeljoch (3356 m) . In the course of the south ridge, over which the normal route for the ascent leads, lies the Inner Source Peak with a height of 3514 meters , separated by the Hintereisjoch (3441 m) . The next permanently inhabited settlement is the South Tyrolean hamlet of Melag , which is about seven kilometers as the crow flies to the northwest in the Langtaufer valley .

Ascent history

Special map of the Eastern Alps Section Weisskugel, 1875

In 1846 Archduke Johann of Austria crossed the nearby Hochjoch , mentioned the conspicuous high summit several times in his notes and reported on the first ascent (probably in the summer of 1845) by the two Schnals porters Johann Gurschler and Josef Weitthalm: They were from the Kurzhof up to the Rockfall distance, on the rear Eisferner in 2 hours, then over the further 2 hours, on the cutting edge three hours. They had tied themselves with ropes and had to cut squadrons; steep and fissured the ascent. They stayed at the top for ½ an hour, then hurried down again in 5½ hours.

In a protocol of the kk military triangulation from 1854, the mountain, at that time also called Hintere Wilde Eisspitz , was considered to be climbable, but only in stable, favorable weather conditions. An attempt was given up after eleven hours and a survey signal could not be set up.

Since the brief report by Archduke Johann went unnoticed for a long time, the Viennese tourist Josef Anton Specht was considered the first to climb for many years . On September 30, 1861, he managed to reach the summit via the south ridge. However, there are contradicting versions of his companion and the exact route of ascent. Specht himself had not published any reports on his mountain trips, only in Vent's first book of visitors was the entry JA Specht from Vienna with Nicodem and Leander Klotz von Rofen on the Similaun and the Weisskugel . Theodor Petersen, on the other hand, assigned Specht to a different group of companions and a different ascent route: JA Specht [...] with the Oetzthaler guides Johann Raiffeiner and Leander Klotz, as well as a Passeirer farmer. From Kurzras over the Steinschlagferner and Hintereisjoch up and down . According to Franz Senn's tourist calendar, Specht was accompanied by the guides J. Raffeiner, Toni Finailer and Leander Klotz.

Tourist development

Today's normal route leads from the Hintereisjoch over the south ridge to the summit. The slightest increase in difficulty UIAA I under normal conditions. Various shelters can serve as a starting point for climbing the Weißkugel (walking times according to literature):

literature

Web links

Commons : Weißkugel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Clem Clements, Jonathan de Ferranti, Eberhard Jurgalski , Mark Trengove: The 3000 m SUMMITS of AUSTRIA - 242 peaks with at least 150 m of prominence , October 2011, p. 8.
  2. ↑ Federal Office for Metrology and Surveying Austria: White ball on the Austrian Map online (Austrian map 1: 50,000)
  3. ^ Hanspaul Menara , Josef Rampold : South Tyrolean mountain tours . Athesia, Bozen 1976, p. 28 .
  4. ^ Egon Kühebacher : The place names of South Tyrol and their history. The historically grown names of the mountain ranges, summit groups and individual peaks of South Tyrol. Athesia, Bozen 2000, ISBN 88-8266-018-4 , p. 327.
  5. ^ Hanspaul Menara and Hannsjörg Hager: Mountains and mountaineers. Alpine history of South Tyrol . Athesia, Bozen 1994, ISBN 88-7014-809-2 , p. 57
  6. ↑ Hanspaul Menara: The most beautiful 3000m in South Tyrol . Athesia, Bozen 2007, ISBN 978-88-8266-391-9 , p. 36-37 .
  7. ↑ Heinrich Heß in Eduard Richter : The development of the Eastern Alps , Volume II, Berlin 1894, p. 283 ff.
  8. ^ Theodor Petersen in the magazine of the German and Austrian Alpine Association , Volume VII, Munich 1876, p. 221
  9. ^ Gustav Jäger (ed.): Der Tourist , Vienna 1869, p. 301
  10. ^ Walter Klier: Alpenvereinsführer Ötztaler Alpen , Munich 2006, pp. 330 ff, margin no. 2810 ff.