The excursion to Schöne Aussicht and Im HinternEis

The excursion took place on Sunday 14 September. All students and some lecturers went to the nearby village of Kurzras by car and mini-bus. There they took the cable cart to 3212 m. In the restaurant up there, Hotel Grawand, they were treated to a small reception. Afterwards, the local museum of Otzi the Ice-Man was visited. Around eleven o'clock the group started walking down the glacier (which was already used as a ski piste even though it was only September). Moraines were clearly visible around the glacier and it was even possible to walk a bit under the glacier.

The group encountered a large herd of sheep around noon (given the enormous size of the herd, one should rather speak of 'flood'). These sheep were coming down from the summer meadows. All sheep are taken down on the same day, so it was a bit of luck to see this event. A long climb started towards Hinteren Eis at 3270 meters, where it was possible to see the glacier Hintereisferner in Austria. This is an important glacier for glaciologist, because it is one of the few glaciers in the world for which a mass balance record is available. From Hinteren Eis, the group walked down to a hut for a late lunch. After the lunch it took about two hours to get back down to the valley.