Fuhrerweg climb

Crag: Totenkirchl, Wilder Kaiser, Austria
Route: Fuhrerweg (u2,3-,2,2,3,2,3-,3,2:led p.2,4,6,8,10)
This historic route, which finds an easy way through the outrageous rock walls of the Totenkirchl, seemed an ideal way to start our trip. It is little more than a scramble technically, around UK Diff in standard, but is the only real line of resistance and so is (very mildly) committing. After a wet night, the day dawned clear and we sat around in the sunshine eating breakfast: not something I have ever done before at a mountain hut. This casual approach had a price: we walked along the wooded ridge towards the face and spied a few parties ahead of us. We were inevitably going to get caught behind them. The initial ridge is delightful, and leads to a broad scree gully leading up to the walls of the Totenkirchl which tower above. One awkward move round a jammed boulder leads to a widening, before the first 50m 'pitch' is reached. This is just a scramble, around grade II climbing, but very enjoyable and sustained the whole way. At the stance, we roped up and realised we were going nowhere fast, with two or three pairs above. However, we soon reconciled ourselves to our fate, a relaxed start to the trip - and, as I was concerned about the possibility of storms, I was consoled by the fact that we would be able to retreat first if a storm rolled in later on. Still, it was frustrating to have to wait for three separate parties on such an easy route which we could have quickly romped up. I led the steeper second, which took a wet chimney on slippery and polished limestone. A long traverse then led to an 8 metre downclimb into a gap above a long chimney, which gave Vic the lead of the crucial 'Fuhrerwandl' pitch. This looks steep from across the gap, but is actually slabby and delightfully juggy: a nice pitch with one tricky move to finish. Another long traverse right gains the base of the main chimney system, known as the Fuhrerkamin, a huge feature very clearly visible from the hut. Vic led up the waterworn groove itself in one long rope length. I led through, up steep rock to the right of an obvious constriction then continued up the chimney line to some tat above some huge jammed boulders. From my stance, I realised I had gone too high and missed the crucial leftward traverse! This was annoying, as we had climbed past the slowest party by now and were making rapid progress. But I was able to secure the downclimb by clipping the tat and joined Vic for the leftwards escape from the main chimney system. This leads to a subsidiary chimney groove (the Leuchsrinne), which is easier, and heads up to the main terrace. As we completed the pitch, a triple clap of thunder rang out. Decision time. We had done all the climbing on the main part of the route - the rest is a walk up the terrace to a short pitch below the summit. I had no desire to be caught in a storm high up on the mountain, although Vic felt we should wait to see if the storm passed. We went with retreat which, on this occasion was the wrong decision, but I still felt it was sound mountain judgment. Indeed, we had to reverse the entire route anyway, with a series of at least 8 abseils. When we got to the base, the sun came out and all danger of storms passed: such is the nature of the game. We picked an exposed an tenuous line down through spectacular pyramids to the east, intent on finding the Wildangerwald. This was unnecessarily tiring in the building heat, wasted energy, and we finally retreated back up to the hut for water before setting out for some afternoon cragging on the Hundskopf.