1st Austrian Queen Maud Land Expedition
Published on 11.01.2010 - General Info
The first ever Austrian skiing and mountaineering expedition to Queen-Maud-Land, Antarctica, returned home safely and very successfully.
The expedition was initiated, organized and led by veteran polar explorer, UIAGM-mountainguide and geographer Dr. Christoph Höbenreich from the Tyrol, Austria. The team included members Paul Koller and Karl Pichler from Austria.
The expedition's goal was to ski from the well known peaks around the famous rock cathedral of Ulvetanna (2.931 m) towards the east to explore and climb some of the still untouched mountains and peaks of Holtedahl-, Kurze- and Conradfjella.
In 2009 the team flew from Cape Town, South Africa, with ALCI-Iljushin Il-76 to Novo Airbase. From there they were lifted to their start-point near Holtanna BC by Twin Otter. Their challenging route, now known as "The Austrian Ski-Route", crosses some of the most spectacular ice- and rock landscapes in the world.
Along their route the Austrians climbed not less then 15 peaks of several mountains and nunataks, 11 of them were first ascents. Besides ascents of "Tungespissen" (2.277 m), "Mundlauga" (2.455 m) and "Sandneshatten" (2.280 m) the most prominent first ascents and new named summits were:
- Tiroler Spitze ('Tyrolean Spire', S 71°52'15,8'', E 008°55'00,6'', 2.201 m, UIAA grade IV),
- Austrian Peak (S 71°52'27,9'', E 008°54'50,6'', 2.177m),
- Peak Alexey Turchin" (S 71°51'19,8'', E 009°00'12,7'', 2.232 m),
- Kamelbuckel ('Camel-Hump', S 71°50'28,1'', E 009°00'01,5'', 2.184 m),
- Mount Galileo (S 71°55'23,6'', E 009°01'38,8'', 2.528 m) and
- Peak of Silent Solitude (S 71°54'59,2'', E 009°03'28,1'', 2.550 m).
On his 11th polar expedition, Christoph Höbenreich was inspired with new ideas and therefore plans to be back for more Antarctic adventures in the near future. If you are interested and want to take part in new exploratory-style polar ski expedition, get in touch with christoph (dot) hoebenreich (at) aon (dot) at.
