Walkhighlands

Posted: **Mon Sep 17, 2018 9:04 pm**

On our first van trip to Europe, this was our first target - the highest point in Germany, on the border to Austria. Involving a gorge walk, via ferrata, scramble, glacier crossing then finishing with more via ferrata, we'd been weather watching for a while so knew the conditions. The 'snow bridge' from the glacier back on to rock had fallen just in the last couple of days, but it was still passable. Took me 4 attempts :shock:

getting up that bit of rock, but what an awesome route and a great feeling finally reaching the summit!

Check out Scoob's video for the movie version of this story :lol:

Setting off from Hammersbach for the Hollental route - before 4am!

Heading through the gorge, relieved when we saw torches far behind us confirming others were coming this way too :)

Just past the hut above the gorge, daylight beginning to break

Sunrise behind us

Finally on to the first part of the via ferrata!

The iron pegs featured a few times - never felt unsafe, even with nothing else underfoot :)

Above the first via ferrata and back on to track

Track soon turns to scree and we can see the glacier ahead (tiny specs on the right side of it are people! Quite a few had passed us by now, lol)

Some had crampons, some were roped up, but we opted for micro spikes for crossing this glacier; no problems for this part

*sigh* 3 times I got up the rope close to where the first guy is in this pic, only to fall back down on to the snow bridge (no anchors on this bit and I clearly hadn't done enough to strengthen my arms before this trip!)... then Scoob went first and helped me up :o Didn't feel so bad since others before me had shaky legs and one guy fell twice before making it up (although unaided, lol)

Yaaaaay!! Finally up the rope and back on to the via ferrata clips, phew! Queue's getting bigger (we later saw 2 turn back at this point)

Now the fun starts! :)

Our route so far! Nice view of the crevasses and the ant-like people still coming up the glacier

We could soon see the cable car station that would be our route down, but didn't realise how far away it actually was!

And so we climbed...

and climbed...

and climbed some more!

Now seeing our end point - the cable car goes down to the lake, then we get the train back to the car park in Hammersbach

Almost at the top, this is our full route right of center with the end on the left side of the 'fin'

Last few steps!

And here we are, on top of Germany!! :)

Flying the flag ;)

Folks that just got the cable car up don't know what they've missed, lol!

Our stats - to the summit; switched off after that as we stopped there for a beer and checked out the shop! :D

Going down! Cable car driver has a good job :D

Posted: **Mon Sep 17, 2018 11:25 pm**

Fantastic! Really inspiring, even with the pretty large numbers of folk.

My brother's been trying to persuade me to do some via ferrata stuff with him. The VF aid didn't appeal much, but I've suddenly seen why it's needed, and why it can still be great fun. I'll try to give it a go this next summer.. :roll:

So thanks for posting. :thumbup:

Posted: **Tue Sep 18, 2018 7:51 pm**

Thanks for posting!

Been thinking of doing Zugspitze for a while now.

Is that the most popular route up the mountain (excluding the cable car :lol:

)?

Lastly, has anyone been going through the VF without the safety lanyard clipped on?

Posted: **Tue Sep 18, 2018 8:18 pm**

That looks like a fantastic way up an excellent looking mountain. Apart from the big pub on the top, but we do that, with railways rather than cable cars, in the UK too. The route itself looked adventurous but achievable, crossing some amazing terrain.

My grandma summitted the Zugspitze in her 70s. I have a feeling she might have cheated a little though...

Great report, thanks for sharing.

Posted: **Tue Sep 18, 2018 8:22 pm**

xslawekx wrote:Thanks for posting!

Been thinking of doing Zugspitze for a while now.

Is that the most popular route up the mountain (excluding the cable car )?

Lastly, has anyone been going through the VF without the safety lanyard clipped on?

Simply, Yes, we seen two hill runners without the gear. One of those things if you've done it a few times you could probbably manage without it :roll:

Posted: **Tue Sep 18, 2018 8:29 pm**

Absolutely first class report :clap:

almost feels like I'm there :wink:

I particularly like the video

Posted: **Tue Sep 18, 2018 9:56 pm**

Alteknacker wrote:Fantastic! Really inspiring, even with the pretty large numbers of folk.
My brother's been trying to persuade me to do some via ferrata stuff with him. The VF aid didn't appeal much, but I've suddenly seen why it's needed, and why it can still be great fun. I'll try to give it a go this next summer..
So thanks for posting.

Thanks! This was our first VF and felt pretty safe with the excitement of exposure

We went on to do another couple of VFs just for 'fun' i.e. not to reach a summit; it's a growing sport around the Alps! The Zug one was the most comfortable one for me :lol:

Definitely go with your brother though :thumbup:

xslawekx wrote:Thanks for posting!
Been thinking of doing Zugspitze for a while now.
Is that the most popular route up the mountain (excluding the cable car )?
Lastly, has anyone been going through the VF without the safety lanyard clipped on?

Thanks! I think Hollental is probably the most popular route - lots of guided groups too. There are other climbing routes, but only this one with a VF. The lanyards were good for a security blanket; just a couple of guys without them

Mal Grey wrote:That looks like a fantastic way up an excellent looking mountain. Apart from the big pub on the top, but we do that, with railways rather than cable cars, in the UK too. The route itself looked adventurous but achievable, crossing some amazing terrain.
My grandma summitted the Zugspitze in her 70s. I have a feeling she might have cheated a little though...
Great report, thanks for sharing.

Thanks! That was it exactly - adventurous but achievable

That's awesome of your grandma! Think we'll be using more cables up by then too :wink:

Posted: **Wed Sep 19, 2018 9:29 am**

wow, this is spooky, me and the missus were talking about climbing up Zugspritze at the weekend (she is half german and we go and see family there every year), but we were thinking of an easier route

A great report, but while I've used them before I'm still not sure about ferratas :shock:

Posted: **Sun Sep 05, 2021 2:28 pm**

Wow, great report!
Nice photos, I've often wondered what the Hollentahl route looks like close up. The via ferretas look like fun, but this route is probably above my level!

I climbed Zugspitze the year after with my sun. We went for an easier route - the Gatterl (starting in Austria and crossing the border at 2000 m).

Posted: **Sun Sep 05, 2021 2:28 pm**

Wow, great report!
Nice photos, I've often wondered what the Hollentahl route looks like close up. The via ferretas look like fun, but this route is probably above my level!

I climbed Zugspitze the year after with my son. We went for an easier route - the Gatterl (starting in Austria and crossing the border at 2000 m).

Walkhighlands

Zugspitze - on top of Germany

Zugspitze - on top of Germany

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Re: Zugspitze - on top of Germany

Re: Zugspitze - on top of Germany

Re: Zugspitze - on top of Germany

Re: Zugspitze - on top of Germany

Re: Zugspitze - on top of Germany

Re: Zugspitze - on top of Germany

Re: Zugspitze - on top of Germany

Re: Zugspitze - on top of Germany