UKH

I am planning a Austria hut-to-hut trip next summer. I have some alpine experience but my companions have little or none, so I'm looking for non-technical routes, possibly the Stubai or Zillertal Rucksack Routes. I believe these routes do not cross glaciers, but I'd like to know if people take ice axe / crampons / rope in case of steep snow.

So - can we travel light, or is it best to take alpine kit?

Cheers

In reply to gammarus:

What kit you need to take will depend greatly on the amount of snow that falls this winter, the time in summer you go, the route you take etc. If it's early summer and it was a very snowy winter then you might find your planned route is made much harder by unmelted snow.
Depends a bit also on the temperament of the people you are going with. Some people will happily walk along a well-trod path across a snow field in trainers with a walking stick even if the incline is enough that a slip would a nasty slide into rocks at the bottom. Other people would only cross the same path with crampons and ice axe.

I would suggest taking the alpine kit with you and going into the tourist office on day 1 and saying "we want to do a 6 day rucksack route, ideally without snow, we though of routes X, Y or Z, which of these are snow-free just now?". Tourist info should know all about that and anything they don't know, they can find out by calling the pertinent hut which will most certainly know the state of all paths near to them.
Then, based on what the current status quo is, you can decide to leave the alpine gear behind, or not, and decide which route to do.

In reply to gammarus:

You could look at hut to hut via ferrata in Berchtesgaden.

In reply to gammarus:
We did the Zillertal Rucksack Route/Berliner Trail this July. It's been a pretty warm summer but there was very little snow about - only a little on the highest passes, and that was all very soft. There were a few sections, maybe maximum 500m in length. Depending on the time of year you're aiming to do it, at the most I'd take microspikes for the main route.

We carried axe/crampons to enable some side-peak climbs, but never used them on the main route.

It's a great round.

In reply to gammarus:

Thanks for these replies; very helpful

Steve

In reply to gammarus:

I did the Zillertal route in 2013 and very much enjoyed it. When we did it it was pretty much snow free other than the mentioned soft patches in a couple of places and we didn't take or feel the need for full alpine kit.

Much earlier in the season someone died as it was still icy though, so the best thing to do is to keep up to date on the conditions. As Mayrhofen is a well established ski resort they have very good webcams, forecasts etc. so reports are easy to come by especially if you search for its german language name the Berliner Hohenweg.

In reply to kestrelspl:

What time of year were you there?

In reply to gammarus:

Last week of July, although as mentioned things change year to year. The death I mentioned happened at the end of June and was on one of the last sections of the route where it's a bit narrow. When we did that section of the route it was sweltering and there wasn't any snow or ice, but I can imagine it being tricky if there was.

I'm sure the hut guardians and online conditions reports would be able to advise if any section was inadvisable at a given time, and the section is quite avoidable if you had a problem. If you had conditions like we did it would be fine, and I wouldn't want to discourage you from doing it as it's a really great route. The panoramic window at the Olperer hut alone makes it worthwhile.

We used the Cicerone guide by Allan Hartley.