My name is Stefan Valentin Baumgartner. After attending the Höhere Technische Bundeslehranstalt (HTL) for mechanical engineering and automation technology in Wolfsberg, Austria, I studied electrical engineering and communication technology at the Graz University of Technology. I did my PhD in the same field at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany. Currently, I am working in Bavaria as a research assistant in a major research center in the field of aerospace.

In my spare time, I enjoy traveling and hiking in the mountains, once a year also as a volunteer tour guide for an alpine club in Austria. In younger years I took the state exam to become an instructor for high altitude touring and an instructor for ski touring. I am therefore also quite familiar with the rope and belay techniques commonly used in mountain sports and am aware of the alpine dangers.

Since 2004 I am the owner of www.zirbitzkogel.at. The website www.zirbitzkogel.at, the associated blog blog.zirbitzkogel.at and the associated photo gallery photos.zirbitzkogel.at are run by me privately and without any profit intention. The idea for the website was born during my studies in Graz, out of love for my local mountain, the Zirbitzkogel.

My website mainly deals with the Zirbitzkogel as a mountain and with the hikes possible in the Zirbitzkogel area. In addition, I would also like to provide some basic knowledge on the subject of mountain distress, equipment, glaciers and high-altitude mountaineering. In the blog I write mainly about privately conducted mountain tours, in winter from time to time also about the current ski touring conditions on the Zirbitzkogel. But there are also occasional posts on more technical topics.