Standing on the Hintergrat, we saw the red sky

The weather forecast for Matterhorn was not too good. New snow was on the mountain, and the wind was strong for the following days. As an alternative plan for the year 2023, we had the summit of Orlter and its Hintergrat Ridge on our minds. The forecast for this mountain was definitely better. We decided not to spend time waiting for the weather to calm down but to move the car towards Solda in Italy. Climibg Orlter (3905m) via Hintergrat Ridge requires good climbing skills and experience in the Alps. The route is AD (Advanced Difficult), but we were prepared for this climb.

Solda, or Sulden with German pronunciation, is a mountain village in South Tyrol in northern Italy. Due to its remote location, in AD 1802, the Austrian newspaper “Innsbrucker Wochenblatt” compared it to “Siberia of Tyrol”, “where farmers dine with bears and kids ride on wolves”. It’s the birthplace of Reinhold Messner, the world's greatest Alpinist. Solda lies at the foot of the Ortler, in the Vinschgau valley east of the Stelvio Pass. After we arrived there, we brought heavy and dark clouds with us, making it perfect for the rain to begin. We set our camp at the very few spaces available for camping in Solda and started to plan our activity for the next few days. We took one day to rest and reorganise our equipment. I was always checking the weather forecast to see if the weather would allow us to climb this route. Nikola has climbed Orlter before, but from the normal route, and the good thing from this was the fact that at least for the descent, we would know where to go. Climbing Hintergrat Ridge was a new experience and a new story for us. The weather started to become more unstable in the following days. I asked Nikola what he thought. It's in his nature to always find the good aspects of the situations. “Let’s go tomorrow to the Hintergrathutte mountain hut and check if we will find other climbers who will go to the summit the day after tomorrow.” In the meantime, at our camp, we met one very interesting mountaineer from Croatia. “Are you from Macedonia?” Matej asked me. “Oh, what a beautiful country. I have been to Skopje many times, you know. Maybe I will move to Skopje one day. I have climbed many mountains in Macedonia.” We started sharing stories about our experiences in the outdoors. We had a great day together. He was in Solda alone for 3 weeks so far. He climbed Orlter via the normal route, and he did other climbs in this area as well. He told us that we should go and climb Hintergrat Ridge, “You are young and strong, look at you, go for it”.

Coming from Piz Bernina, we knew that we were acclimatized well. That means we are used to the altitude, and our body is now stronger than some days ago. The hike to the hut was like a joke for us, although we had heavy backpacks. Hintergrathutte mountain hut is at 3000m, and from there, you can see the whole ridge of Hitnergrat and the summit of Orlter. We arrived at the hut full of climbers and positive energy. The hut is beautiful. It is a small building with two floors, and when I got up, I felt like I was in a private house. Everything, from a glass to a picture, reminds me of my old family house in the mountains that we had years ago. We looked at other climbers who were ready for tomorrow's climb. “Nice, all the things are set up for us,” I told myself. Looking at some old pictures of mountaineers and skiers in the hut, it was like a museum for us. The cake after the dinner was the best I have tried so far.

Early start, 04 AM. Helmets on, harnesses on, and the headlamp on. Everything was on. The route goes directly towards the ridge while passing by some fallen rocks. We were moving so quickly, we couldn't imagine. After 1 hour, we started our real climb. “No rope for now”, I said to Nikola, and we climbed like that for 1 hour more. On the way up, rocks were falling on us from above. “Who is above us? Do they know how to climb? Did we pass everyone? Are we not the first?” with anger, I asked Nikola. The situation is very dangerous from an objective perspective there. Rockfalls are non-stop. The sun started to rise, so red, even more red than my red jacket then. I asked Nikola to take a photo of me. “What a scenic moment”, I said to everyone, although we were the only ones. Dancing with the rocks, we enjoyed the climbing. Now, passing the glacier, we take our first rest. “Ah, you see that black rock up here? I assume that that will be the tricky part,” I said aloud. We found very few bolts on the route and the possibility of putting on any gear and securing ourselves. We were roped up at this point, but we were moving solo, roped but solo, even worse. After we arrived at the black rock tower, we spotted the summit.

This section was very exposed, but we managed to pass it very quickly and did not think about it. Believe it or not, after 3 hours, we were on the summit of Ortler, looking at the popular Stelvio Pass and the other mountains around. “Let's take a photo, Miki, and make a space for the others. These Italians are very angry when they are on the top”. We started our descent to Solda. We knew that we needed to pass by Payer Hutte mountain hut, and from there, we had a well-marked trekking route to the bottom of the mountain. But, until the Payer Hute mountain hut, there are huge crevasses from the glacier, loose rocks and exposed terrain to downclimb. We took off our rope and ate a banana. “Miki, Be careful here; it's very steep, and you are without an ice axe,” Nikola told me. I felt very comfortable then, so I just listened to him but didn't change my way of moving. We arrive at one crucial turning point, where the right way is to turn left, but as our nature is, we turn right. It is very primitive, I know, but since I was a kid, I have always repeated that to myself: if you don’t know where to go when in nature, turn right. This practice was good and safe, as I always reached home again.

During my childhood, I spent time in the woods of Mavrovo. This time, Nikola decided to turn right. I trust him because of his experience on this route. As I mentioned above, he did this one earlier this year. A very steep downclimbing was in front of us, but we kept going. Now, I said to Nikola, “Be careful here, man, it looks very risky to me”. After 30 minutes of going down, we felt in the air that we were not on the route. Now, climbing up seems more risky because once you touch something, it falls down. Tired and angry of one another because of this decision, we started to go up until we reached the crucial turning point and finally turned left. We entered the glacier again on the right path, made an abseil and downclimbed one steep snow section. In the meantime, we spot other climbers doing the same above us. “We will not be us if we do not do something unusual”, I told Nikola. After two more abseils, several downclimb sections and one and a half hours, we reach Payer Hutte mountain hut. When I was at the summit, I was dreaming of Coca-Cola. It just felt critical to me to have one. After the quick break for two Coca-Colas at the hut, we continued our descent, happy that we had done another good alpine climb.

“Bravo, Makedonci!” he shouted from the tent. “I knew that you would climb this.” We shared our experiences with Matej from Croatia. That day was his last in Solda, and he was waiting for the Flixbus to bring him down to Bolzano, where he needed to catch another bus to Verona and from there to Zagreb. The rest of the day we spent in the museum of the First World War here in Solda, watching a documentary of how hard the battle was here in the mountains, and we found out that on the summit of Ortler, the army of Italy had installed a bunker, so they have advantage on the Austrians. “I can’t image the equipment for the army back then, making bunkers at the height of 3906m in winter,” but it was impressive to watch and learn the history of this place.

We have one more night in Solda. “Two great adventures behind us,” I said to myself. I am very proud of ourselves for making these adventures alone and without any support. Early start, 04 AM. We were driving to Macedonia.