THE
HÖCKENHORN DAWN HIKE
PHOTOS BY DAVE GARDNER & MARK HUTTON . |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
The first peek we climbed this year was called First. For our younger scouts First is a very big peek with steep paths at the top. For a young scout this gives a great achievement. | ||||||
|
|||||||
The peek of the Hockenhorn is about 2 hours walk away from the Lötchenpass Hütte. We generally take the whole group up to the Lotchenpass Hutte as an overnight hike. |
|||||||
We also take time out to teach scouts how to use ice axes. Then at about 3:00 am those going up the Hockenhorn, nip out and are back in time for breakfast! As Scout Leader I wanted to give as many of my scouts as possible the opportunity of getting to the top of the peek. However, it is not an easy hike and the safety of people in the group is our highest priority. For this reason a couple of the fitter Scouts were not allowed to go as time and again they showed that they were less than mature, a liability and potentially a danger to others. Maybe next time. |
|||||||
| |||||||
Five minutes after starting the youngest member
of the party felt ill and had to turn back. The first part of
the route is a gentle climb across rocky ground. Eventually we hit a
reasonably flat but very slippery snow field. The top layer of snow
had frozen solid over night.
The picture below was taken from near the top of the Hockenhorn looking West back towards our hut. The small mountain in the center of the picture is the little Hockenhorn. We walked across the snow field just to the right of it.
| |||||||
|