UKC

I plan to visit Southern Germany and Innsbruck in Austria in September of 2011 and am seeking advice on via ferrata there. It seems a reasonable alternative to hauling kit and finding a partner, especially with a language barrier. Moderate to difficult is fine. Easy access is rather important as well. I'm happy to reciprocate with anyone coming to the western part of the US.
Thank you

In reply to cliff:

Hi Cliff. Try Garmisch-Partenkirchen - the vf/klettersteig routes on the Zugspitze (highest peak in Germany) and Alpspitze are great value. You can buy a local klettersteig guidebook in Garmisch.

These pics are from last summer: http://www.flickr.com/photos/roofofeurope/sets/72157624368322443/

Steve

In reply to cliff:

I'll try and give you some more advice when I get back from work this evening, but here's something to get you started:

http://www.klettersteig.de/

Tim

In reply to cliff: There is a klettersteig in Innsbruck. Take the cable car out of town up on to the ridge, there is a big alpine route on the ridge. Easy access, cable car to the start. Google Insbrucker klettersteig.

There is a great one to the west of Innsbruck, by the airport, it is grade D/E and goes up a huge bit of rock. It's called Kaiser Max
http://www.bergsteigen.at/de/touren.aspx?ID=62
topo
http://www.bergsteigen.at/pic/pdf/62_Topo_296_kaisermaxtopo.pdf

The alpspitze is good, there is an easy one to the summit, plus a grade D/E on a nearby hill, all serviced by a cable car (Alpspitzebahn)

One problem might be your timing though, some of the cable cars shutdown for a period at the end of summer.

St Anton has a great alpine route, C/D, cable car start, google alberger klettersteig

Bargsteigen is the best source of routes, the topos are great,
http://www.bergsteigen.at/de/kst.aspx?ID=2

when searching use the German word klettersteig rather than the italian Via Feratta

In reply to gammarus:

Definitely going to do that this year. There's a cheapish campsite not far off. Normally I camp at the Naturcamping at Mittenwald in a nearby valley (which is on the road to Innsbruck), which has a freer feel than most German campsites. There's a rather indifferent VF on the Grosse Arnspitze but the mountain walk is lovely, as are others around there.

In reply to cliff: We went in the first 2 weeks of sept last year - it snowed down to 1700m two days after we arrived which ruled out everything on the Alpspitze/Zugspitze . Get the new klettersteig austria guidebook or print the info off the alpinverlag website linked to above (the guidebook is effectively the hardcopy version of the website). The Lachenspitze klettersteig is very good (we took the vogelbahn up and down to reduce the walk-in/out) and modern. The Mittenwalder Hohenweg is more 'old skool' style but excellent. If weather is bad go up/down the Hollentalklamm gorge near Garmisch. Another lower altitude option is the ridge between Hertzogstand and Heimgarten - no need for lanyards and harnesses really.
If it's really bad weather go to the Deutsche museum in Munich if you're at all interested in machines and engineering, it's awesome (allow a whole day, it's huge!). The Swarovski factory in Innsbruck is utter rubbish - it's basically an art gallery of about a dozen 'installations' using swarovski crystals, there is no 'factory tour' or info on how it's all made at all. Innsbruck old town is worth an afternoon wandering round.
Stanfords sell the relevant DAV maps for the area which are excellent. If you use garmin GPS I can give you a talkytoaster map too.

In reply to Toerag:
I'd second the advice on the Deutsche Museum. Really good day out.

For a change of scenery Mayrhofen is a train journey away. Theres a via ferrata accessible from the gondola although it looked pretty tame as we used part of it to walk off one of the climbs below it.
http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crag.php?id=10779

In reply to gammarus:
I'll second that. Arriving one the summit of the Zugspitze and seeing all the cable car passengers behing the fences on the plateau is priceless. You can make a nice loop of that route by going down via the Reintal (just walking) back to Garmisch. Plenty of nice huts along the way for overnighting. You wouldn't even need a guidebook for that, just a map and follow some people from the Hoellentalangerhuette in the morning. Some instep crampons are advisable as there is a snow field to cross and you have to steo across the Bergschrund to get to the start of the via ferrata.

Mike

In reply to cliff:

Höllental to Zugspitze is nice but crowded. There is a comprehensive list of VFs at www.klettersteig.de and you can click your way down from country/region/... . Most of the info should be obvious even though it is in German.

Cb

In reply to all: Wow!!! This is absolutely brilliant!! I feel like a little kid with the excitement of this venue for information, and at my age that is rare indeed. Thank you all so much for your responses - Thrilling to realize this access to the world is possible - am I an old, small town duffer or what? The websites are great and so appreciated. This trip planning gets more exciting all the time.
Cliff