Austrian East Antarctic expedition to the Otto von Gruber Mountains in 2024

Christoph Höbenreich is leading his eighth Antarctic expedition into the little-explored Otto von Gruber Mountains in the Wohlthat Mountains. Together with his expedition-experienced Austrian mountain guide colleagues Tom Rabl and Robert Miller as well as the German expedition doctor Katrin Oertel, the team climbed nine peaks in three weeks, seven of which were first ascents. Highlights include the ascent of the Ritschergipfel and the Zuckerhut as well as the conquest of the “Bergführerspitz” and “Mentzelberg”. The expedition emphasizes the respectful treatment of untouched nature, while the region may be closed to mountaineers to protect snow petrels. A plea for the sustainable preservation of these unique mountains.

His eighth pioneering expedition to East Antarctica takes the Tyrolean mountain and polar guide Christoph Höbenreich together with his expedition-experienced Austrian mountain guide colleagues Tom Rabl and Robert Miller as well as the German expedition doctor Katrin Oertel to the Otto von Gruber Mountains in the Wohlthat Mountains of Queen Maud Land, which have hardly been explored by mountaineers. The mountain range was discovered and documented from the air in 1939 by the German Antarctic Expedition with Dornier whale flying boats, which were catapulted from the mother ship Schwabenland off the ice shelf coast. It was named after the cartographer with Austrian roots, Otto von Gruber, who produced the first topographical maps of the mountainous region of New Swabia. The expedition is a complete success. In total, the team climbed nine peaks in three weeks in November 2024, seven of which were first ascents.

On November 6, 2024, the Ritscher summit (2791 m), the highest mountain in the range, is climbed via a new route through the up to 55-degree steep ice gully on the eastern flank, reaching the Ritscher East summit (2700 m) for the first time. After Christoph's second ascent exactly one year earlier, this is only his third ascent and third route up this mountain. The experience of standing on these exclusive peaks is overwhelming. In the crystal-clear air, the view stretches over 200 kilometers and as far as the South Polar Plateau, from where an icy wind blows with temperatures below minus thirty degrees Celsius. The majestic mountain, which can be seen from afar, was first climbed in 1991 by two scientists from the former GDR research station Georg Forster in the Schirmach Oasis, Wieland Adler and Gerold Noack, starting from Untersee via its north-western side.

Two days later, the Austrian-German team climbed the snow and pre-summit of the Zuckerhut (2468 m), as the German explorers named the imposing mountain in 1939 due to its rounded cone shape - seen from the north-west - and its even whiteness, over a gracefully curved snow ridge that is up to 60 degrees steep and in freezing cold conditions. This and the slightly higher rock and main summit (2525 m) were climbed by the Finns Patrick Degerman and Pekka Holma on December 4, 2013.

Despite very stormy conditions at first, they manage to climb a large, nameless mountain further north, which is given the descriptive name Breitwand (2362 m). In the Bastei massif, a striking, pointed rock tower then catches the eye, which Tom and Robert climb for the first time on November 11 via the steep south-west couloir and Tom and Christoph reach on November 17 via the glacier from the east and via its up to 60 degree steep summit snow flank and an exposed pitch in the third degree of difficulty. As the spectacular summit was climbed by all three mountain guides in the team, but above all as a tribute to the achievements of all mountain guides in the scientific exploration of the Antarctic mountains, it was named Bergführerspitz (2325 m).

On November 12, the breathtakingly beautiful Mentzelberg (2330 m) beckons in glorious weather and rare calm with its jagged icefall, its 50° steep west face and its literally pointy summit. Tom, who is also president of the Tyrolean Mountain Guides Association, takes the lead in route finding on this mountain, as he has done so far. However, the name of the mountain makes you think. Instead of commemorating a Nazi functionary, member of the SS and NSDAP and one of the most influential scientific politicians of the Third Reich, who was immortalized by name in the Antarctic due to his efforts to bring about the German Antarctic Expedition, the team around expedition leader Christoph Höbenreich would like to rename the mountain the “Peace Summit”. A symbol and a quality that is needed more than ever in today's world and also in Antarctica, the continent of peace and international cooperation.

On November 14, the four polar mountaineers climb the Bastei (2460 m) via the crevasse-free glacier on the summit plateau in stormy weather and poor visibility. The name of the mountain comes from a famous rock formation in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains on the banks of the Elbe in Saxon Switzerland. On the evening of 17 November, Tom and Robert climb the Bastei a second time on a new route via a spectacular, 55-degree diagonal ice gully through the south face, while Katrin and Christoph repeat the first ascent route and enjoy the glorious light of the low polar sun and the fantastic view of the Untersee lake almost two thousand meters below them. Bastei and Mentzelberg were two of the most remarkable, as yet unclimbed peaks in Antarctica.

On the morning of November 17th, while Tom and Christoph climb the new route from the east to the Bergführerspitz, Katrin and Robert climb about 7 kilometers from the camp to an unnamed mountain with several rocky outcrops, which could be named Azimutgipfel (2130 m) above the Norwegian-named Asimutbreen (Azimuth Glacier).

Even though mountaineering is anarchic and knows no laws, sensible rules of conduct are important to protect the high mountain wilderness, especially in Antarctica. That's why Christoph and his team made a conscious effort to leave it as clean and intact as possible, not to leave any garbage behind and to take everything they brought back with them. Even what they had eaten beforehand. However, the pioneer tours could have been the last private ascents in the Otto von Gruber Mountains. Germany is planning to designate the entire mountain massif as an Antarctic Special Protected Area (ASPA) to “protect” the snow petrels, which have been breeding far away from the mountain peaks on the shores of the frozen Untersee for thousands of years, and to place it under “protection” - from whatever and whomever - and thus also close it to mountaineers across the board. However, as we only value and preserve what we know and care about, it would be desirable not to deny access to some of the most beautiful mountains in Antarctica, but rather to preserve them sustainably. Especially for future mountaineers who are just as cautious, nature-loving and keen to explore.

Report and images: Christoph Höbenreich (christoph.hoebenreich@aon.at)