UKC

I’m planning a trip to the Zugspitze range in early August, and had a few of questions

I’m pretty happy with the details of getting up to the Zuspitze summit, as we’re going to do it over two days with a overnight stop at the hoellentalanger huette.

However I’d like a better idea of the timings for the traverse and decent, as this will be a longer day... I’ve seen 8.5hrs quoted for Jubilaeumsgrat and 1.5hrs for the via-Ferrata descent to the Alpspitze Cable car Station.
What sort of pace are those timings based on?

-Eating on the move as an efficient well oiled Alpine machine
-Bumbling along looking for suitable picnic spots.
-Somewhere in between, with minimal faffage

From videos etc. This is my expectation of the Jubilaeumsgrat:
>1/3 walking/easy but exposed scrambling (un-roped or with confidence rope)
<1/3 roped climbing scrambling/abseiling (up to Vdiff)
~1/3 Via Ferrata

Am I right, or is there more climbing/abseiling involved?

I’m presuming there’ll still be snow on the rout in places too (in early Aug)?

If it’s obvious we’re going to get benighted, the plan would be to stop at the emergency bothy, but is there somewhere sheltered to bivvy near the cable car station if we miss the last car?

Does membership of the Austrian Alpine club get you member’s rates in the (German Alpine Club) Huts?

Can you book at beds at the Munich Haus or hoellentalanger huette?

Any other tips, tricks, words of wisdom, good places to stay (group of 4-8) etc?

In reply to mmmhumous: The times are far a fairly brisk pace without any faffing it doesn't include any stops. Membership of AAC will get you reciprocal rights in German huts, in August it's best to book in advance. Don't know the route so can't help there.

In reply to mmmhumous:
We did the zugspitze via the route you describe and quite comfortably did it in 1 day, think we took the cable car down. We were slightly ill equipped for the glacier bit but managed with using pieces of rock as ice daggers!!

We tried doing the jbiliaum sgrat from the other end, with the alpspitz first. Due to having an inexperienced team with us we failed and headed off the ridge at the bivvy hut down to the hut in the valley. The bivvy hut looked quite comfy and the bit of the route we did was good.

There is a hut at the cable station isn't there? Its massive and has a restaurant.

We have been pretty lucky in summer and winter getting reciprocal discounts just with our BMC membership or Insurance cards! The guardians don't seem too bothered they make their money off the food you eat not the hut fees so i am told.

Have fun

In reply to OwenM:

Cheers

In reply to Dim Dringo:

Sounds like an experience

The bivvy hut looked quite comfy and the bit of the route we did was good.

The new one looks very plush for a Bivy: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N_HIgzVQo3M/Tko3Z4dU6nI/AAAAAAAABL8/GP8Xw3xAHPY/s...




We'll have both BMC and AAC* membership, so fingers crossed.

*For the 'fally-off-a-mountain' insurance


I'm sure we will, already really looking forward to it. We're headed to Skye for some practice at the end of may.

Cheers

In reply to Dim Dringo:
We were slightly ill equipped for the glacier bit but managed with using pieces of rock as ice daggers!!
Ah, so I'm not the only one then! Had to do that in the Brenta last summer :-/.
To the OP - I've taken the cablecar up to the Alpspitze and walked from there down to the Hoellentalanger hutte and down to Garmisch easily in a day at the start of the September before last. No snow, but there was on the Alpspitze. There's a hut by the Alpspitze cablecar station, and also the hollentaleingangshutte at the lower end of the hollentalklamm - I don't know if the latter is only open during sensible hours for food and drink though, it's tiny. There is also a restaurant at the Sonnalpin station at the top of the funicular, but no accomodation as far as I know.

In reply to Toerag:

Great, found it cheers: http://www.dav-huettensuche.de/index.php?huetten_id=222630&pagedef=deta...

Just wanted to make sure we had a plan B, as I think an Alpine start may kill some of our group

In reply to mmmhumous:

We took a little over nine hours going "uphill": Alpspitze cablecar to Zugspitze summit. That way has around 900 metres of net height gain, so I guess going the other way might be a bit quicker. 1.5 hours down from Alpspitze summit sounds way exaggerated; we did it in less than that going up.

Eight hours for the ridge itself, though, is definitely based on not needing to rope up or pitch anything. The "climbing" sections are trivial and nowhere near a third of the whole thing - we abbed one short section near then end because we were tired, but it looked like it would be easy going the other way; that was the only spot where we used the rope. There's lots of easy but sometimes exposed & loose scrambling on which all members of the party need to be confident and reasonably quick. The VF sections are very steep & exposed in places; definitely need proper kit for those.

If you narrowly miss the last lift, and haven't already bivvied or bailed somewhere along the way, the best bet is to walk another 40 minutes or so down to the Kreuzeck hut. There's no overnight accomodation at the Alpspitze lift station and the descent to the Höllentalanger hut is long and not easy.

The Jubi is nowhere near as good as the Cuillin Ridge btw., so if you do that for training you may be disappointed. Also better than the the Jubi is the nearby Blassengrat, but that's much more sustained climbing at around UIAA II/III. Better rock though, and for a team that's confident soloing or moving together on exposed diff/v. diff a really classic route.

In reply to mmmhumous:

Forget Hoellentalangerhuette, start from the valley. Much better, and it costs you only 1.5h.

Sleeping at Muenchner Haus is a good option if you want to do the Jubigrat in a day, but needs to be booked well in advance.

CB

In reply to cb294: Yep, my sis and I did the Hoellental route from the campsite and back in about 12hours. It was in good weather at the end of September and we set off early enough to beat the crowds from the hut. A spot of soup at the summit cafe and to let the hut groups clear most of the ascent and we headed back down. We did find snow/ice in the top gulleys but nothing that warranted crampons if care was taken. This was a few years back and conditions obviously change year on year.

In reply to AlanLittle:

Cheers


In that case i might rejig things, and do the full Zugspitze accent on day one, Jubi on Day 2 and walk down from Kreuzeck on Day three (taking the cable car down did seem a bit like cheating anyway).


Looks fun!

In reply to mmmhumous:

Does anyone know if the Hollental would be doable in early May? Possibly still a lot of snow I'd imagine!

In reply to Kid Spatula:

Based on this blog, I'd say no.... but depends on the weather: http://danielarndt.com/trips/81

In reply to Kid Spatula:

Really depends on the conditions - can be a full winter ridge climb (which is usually done in two days and staying at the biwak hut) or a summer scramble. Mosts huts don't open before June, the Münchner Haus on the Zugspitze opens mid May.

In reply to mmmhumous:
Did the Zugspitze August 2012 and loved it.

Stayed at the Hollentallganhutte and phone booked 2 places in advance which was really easy - no need for deposit, just a name. We got discount with BMC cards.

Its not overcrowded at all even in August if you avoid Friday/Saturday nights and the meal was the best I've ever had in a hut. Wild boar )