Day 6 – Visiting Frozen Fritz – the Iceman

8. September 2015

climbing: 1310 meters

descending: 210 meters

Climbing to the Martin-Busch-hut

Guess what? Our 6. day started with a climb. Earlier than usual due to our big program of the day we left our warm and cozy hotel. The Martin-Busch-hut at an elevation of 2501m should be our first goal of the day. When we arrived there the whole group sat down to have a drink and to watch the marmots playing.

I felt sick. I never had problems with the height before but I think on this day the elevation had some impact on me. I couldn’t finish my drink and gave it to a fellow hiker. Maybe you can even see the missing color in my face?

The Martin-Busch-hut at an elevation of 2501m

Gaining more elevation

After our break I started hiking with mixed feelings. I felt good enough to go but somehow a little sick. The feeling disappeared once the trail got a bit more difficult and I had to concentrate on where to place my feet. I felt relieved and we all hiked and climbed on towards a very famous highlight of our tour.

The trail changed as we approached the place where frozen Fritz was found

My I introduce Frozen Fritz to you?

He was buried in the ice of a glacier for more than 5000 years. When Frozen Fritz was found in 1991 he was a sensation. And he still is because he is an especially well-preserved mummy of his time , the New Stone Age. Since 1998 he is displayed in the South Tyrol museum of Archeology in Bozen, Italy.

I did some research about the name because here in Europe we name him “Oetzi”. According to a quick google search “Frozen Fritz” is the english name for him.

We climbed to the place of Frozen Fritz’ discovery at an elevation of 3210 meters. A big stone sign markes the place. Actually the mummy wasn’t found exactly at the sign but 70 meters further into a rock field. Only one of our group made the extra 70 meters to look at the exact place!

The official rock sign where frozen Fritz was found

The writing on the rock sign oof frozen Fritz

Edi’s beautiful trail

Our mountain guide Edi was talking about the last bit of today’s hike for a long time. He promised an especially beautiful trail. And it was! Leaving the place of discovery of the glacier mummy Frozen Fritz we saw only rocks instead of a proper hiking trail. Some sections were even so difficult that our guide needed to help us to get up the rocks! This section was probably the most demanding hike that I’ve done so far. I think no section of the Pacific Crest Trail was as difficult as this rock climbing towards the Similaun hut. Technically we also crossed the border into Italy somewhere inbetween. But that’s no big thing in the mountains!

Our last section was accompanied by beautiful views over the European Alps. Unfortunately we could also see the Vernagt water reservoir in Italy which reminded us of the upcoming end of the tour. Tomorrow would be our last day…