At the descent one has to be very careful!
View into the Martelltal, a side valley of the Vinschgau, and to the Ortler Alps.
After 15 minutes we have already lost considerable height and can still register the 2,700 m mark in a good range of the summit cross. Although the Vermoispitze is not a difficult mountain, it is necessary to be sure-footed and free from giddiness – especially in the first phase of the descent.
The loose and dry stones sometimes give way and my telescop-stick gives me additional support. Bärbel, having two sticks, is even more confident and Michael, our youngster, does not need such technical walking-aids.
After 40 minutes we are down to 2,450 m and happy about the good weather. 10 minutes later at 2,350 m the watering place is again inviting us for a rest. We accept the offer, so to speak, and grant ourselves and our shirts, which are by now again soaked with sweat, 10 minutes rest.
Below the summit we have to cross a field of gravel.
By now we can see the first trees and are glad to get a bit of shade, because at 2.100 m height it is quite warm at 14.35 hours. It is shortly before 15 o’clock when we reach the lumber trail. Now there are some 200 metres in height left to the cable car of St. Martin, which we should reach at 15.15 hours.
For the descent we needed therefore 1 hour and 45 minutes, plus 10 minutes break. Not so bad, we find.
The last stretch down to the valley with the cable car
Mountain farmstead at 1,740 m at the cable car station St. Martin im Kofel.
Back to civilisation! We are glad that our feet can touch level ground again. The steady uphill and especially downhill-walking is a big strain on the thigh. An altitude of 2,400 m in 6 hours is no “chicken-feed”.
After some refreshment at the cable car station we go „back to earth“ at approx. 16 hours.
The adventure „Vermoispitze“ was not a difficult one, but an exhausting and especially promising undertaking in the proverbial solitude of the mountains.
