UKC

Looking for a bit of advice on places to go!

weve got 2 and a half weeks and out only plan so far is to head to around the Zugspitze area! Got a van but no plan!

just me and the misses, both fit walkers, solid scramblers (eg done the cuillin ridge in a day), climb has multi pitch, but would be looking for more relaxed grades but long routeS!

Any advice on areas, places to stay (free even better in van!) hills to climb, crabs etc muchos appreciated!

many thanks r

Mittenwalder Hohenweg is a nice oldskool ridge VF. Descent is hard on the knees, so you may want to reverse it and go back down the cablecar.

Herzogstand- Heimgarten traverse is a nice low altitude walking day out, as is the Hoernle area (Bad Kohlgrub - Oberammergau or vice versa).

Lachenspitze VF is a good modern VF. We took the Vogelbahn cablecar up.

From Mittenwald (/Scharnitz)you could hike into the Karwendel range and base yourselves in the Karwendelhaus under the Birkkarspitze (highest peak, 2749m). From there tons of good peaks and ridges for scrambling Cuillin-style; not overcrowded either.

For VF get the German-language AlpenVerlag guidebook.

Dachstein around Ramsau has amazing set of alpine VF routes (bring light crampons).

But do _not& do the Ellmauer Halt / Kaisergebirge with _descent_ to Kufstein.

Ken

Ehrwald - on the south side of the Zugspitze - is a lovely spot although it gets very crowded with folk on weekend outing fro Munich (e.g. me yesterday!) The Ehrwalder Sonnenspitze is a nice grade 1 scramble, the Tajakante is a long & hardish via ferrata up an impressive ridgeline to a proper summit, and if you're feeling adventuruous the Wetterkante is supposed to be a *very* apine classic - super line, long (~20 pitches), dodgy rock, routefinding challenges (haven't done it)

Oh, and the Blassengrat is a super UIAA III ridge scramble. Much better than the adjacent overrated & chossy Jubiläumsgrat.

And yet another edit as more things occur to me: go up to the Mielerhütte for a day or two. Big approach march but spectacular location right on the main ridge, couple more good UIAA III-ish ridge scrambles in the vicinity, plus heaps of pleasant & not frighteningly long multipitch routes on the south face of the Musterstein

Why not (curious)?

Meilerhutte webcams here:-

https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/meilerhuette-haus/

https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/meilerhuette-nord/

https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/meilerhuette/

Hi Rob - I had a two week holiday based purely around Garmisch (Valley base for the Zugspitze) a few years ago and loved it.  Plenty to do there, but not favoured by us Brits for some reason.  All these suggestions are Straight Outta Garmisch (as it were).

Once you've summited the Zugspitze (I'd recommend the Hollental ferrata), you can stay overnight in the hut on the summit, and possibly do the Jubilaumsgrat the next day.  We didn't do it, but by all accounts it's one of the best in the Limestone alps  and its mix of Ferrata and scrambling should be no match for you Cuillin in a day types

For a great few days in a remote part of the range doing brilliant but somehow chilled multipitch mountain routes have a look at the Oberreintal Hut.  It's a proper climbers hut where you bring in your food and the guardian fashions something out of the available ingredients for everyone.  Classic routes here are Militarkante (S), Radlkante (VS?), and another Severeish thing I can't recall the name of (as well as thousands of harder offerings).  Lovely hut and stupendous dolomite style walls all around.  I still keep the hut receipt in my wallet as a reminder of the time we spent there.

The Alpspitze has easily accessed VF's on it if you're looking for a warm up.  Also the Bernadeinkopf close by has a shortish sharpish VF for when you have plenty of bicep, but only a half day.

We stayed in a house, but I seem to recall there's car park just off the road to Grainau by the Loisach river that people park vans in.  There's also a monster carpark just by the old winter olympic stadium, but that wouldn't be so nice.

We got the Panico Wetterstein guidebook for the climbing (it also has the Jubilaumsgrat in it) and it's excellent. 

The beer is good too!

Enjoy

Tom

Just to warn you that the usual access to the Höllental ferrata is currently closed due to flood damages in the Partnachklamm. I do not know whether the footpath immediately above that bypasses the gorge section is accessible (just heard on the radio that the gorge is closed for another month or so as railings and bridges had been swept away).

Otherwise you may have to take a detour to access the upper Höllentalanger , e.g. by descending from the cable car station below the Alpspitz ferrata, or by traversing across from the Eibsee side via the Riffelscharte.

Both would be a pain if you wanted to do the round trip in a day!

CB

I've done the 'Alpspitz cablecar then down Hollentalklamm' walk - I think if you got the first car up you'd be at the Hollentalhutte (recently done up I believe) by elevenses latest. It's pretty much all downhill to the hut from the cablecar, so a lot easier than going up through the klamm (although not as interesting).

I've done the 'Alpspitz cablecar then down Hollentalklamm' walk - I think if you got the first car up you'd be at the Hollentalhutte (recently done up I believe) by elevenses latest. It's pretty much all downhill to the hut from the cablecar, so a lot easier than going up through the klamm (although not as interesting).

When are you actually going?

Yes, I have done that route in both directions. However, you would have still to wait for the first cablecar, by which time you could easily already be at the Höllentalangerhütte (1h 30 ish from Grainau last time I did Zugspitze via the Höllental ferrata).

2200m up and then down again in a day is a long route! If you want to stop at Höllentalanger hut (indeed recently renovated) or at he summit or bivy somewhere along the route it is no problem.

CB

A mate of mine did Höllental - Jubiläumsgrat and made the last lift down. But he’s fit.

Yes, definitely doable, especially earlyish in the season with a bit of snow on the Jubigrat (good firn is much quicker to walk on than loose scree). I did Höllental up with my daughter, and then down via Oberreintal in a day (my daughter took the cable car). Almost Western Alps in elevation gain as you start so low.

CB