| VanSims4. 09. 2013 20:26:28 |
I'll just continue under this topic so that no new one opens.
Garmisch was my base for two days for tours. I drove there from France via the border pass with Italy named Montgenèvre and then on the highway through the Susa valley and around Turin, then on regular roads with Garmin to save toll.  Garmin is excellent for that, just every now and then it wants to take you onto the highway, even though I knew I wasn't close to Milan yet, where the ring road is free. Then to Lake Como, a bit along it, and then via Chiavenna to Switzerland and over Maloja Pass past St. Moritz to Austria, then onto the highway and exit at Imst and over Fernpass to Garmisch.
There it was cloudy on the first day. I could have started the tour, but it wouldn't have made sense in that fog, with possible showers (thunderstorms were not forecasted). So I strolled a bit around Garmisch. Typical alpine tourist town.
I stayed for 27 EUR in my room at privates (with breakfast, which I had to make myself from what was in the fridge). The host gave me evening access to the internet to check the weather. Yes, the next two days will be nice as I already heard on the radio. The first one still with some fog. The host told me that the general forecast for Bavaria doesn't always hold for them because it can rain in Munich while they have sun. It depends on the foehn. He recommended the Austrian forecast for Tyrol more. Otherwise, he said that I have the best forecast by looking in the morning towards the top of the mountain I plan to climb!  The local knows!
In the morning after breakfast, I head to the cable car. Goal for the first day: Alpspitze (2628 m)! The cable car goes to the path starting point at 2050 m. To the summit, there are three paths:
1. Nordwandsteig - this is the normal route! Mostly secured walking first through two tunnels (lamp not necessary), then secured walking (A) with only two or three A/B spots and from the saddle (junction with Schöne Gänge) normal hiking with some secured spots (A/B).
2. Schöne Gänge - At the beginning easier free climbing (I-), then somewhere A/B ferrata to the saddle, where it joins the normal route, which from there is normal hiking with only a few secured spots (A/B).
3. Alpspitz-Ferrata: The hardest, although not so much technically but more in terms of fitness and mentally (not for the vertiginous except in case of fog like I had ). Two B spots, the rest A/B and A, but secured all the way to the top. This is what you call a very well secured path and it's a model of how paths should be secured. For our paths (for which we say some are "well secured") - utopia. All together it takes two to two and a half hours, with clipping even a bit more. You should clip in the lower harder part, in the upper part it's not so necessary or just with one carabiner unless we are beginners, otherwise we waste too much time as the path towards the top drags on endlessly at the end.  For beginners, it can be a nice learning ferrata.
I took the following path: first along Schöne Gänge to the saddle and then along the normal route back to the branch of Alpspitz-ferrata, up it to the summit and again down the normal route to the upper cable car station. I thought of going down Schöne Gänge but didn't make it time-wise. Both paths are suitable for descent, down the Alpspitz ferrata is not forbidden but must be stuffy in my opinion.
It was foggy throughout but the sun also shone through in between. Especially at the summit where I arrived quite late due to such a complicated path. Then I descend the normal route. First annoying scree or rubble (poles are great again!), then a bit secured (just enough that you have to fold the poles and unfold them again ), then along a slightly exposed ridge to the saddle i.e. the junction of the normal route and Schöne Gänge. Due to lack of time, I continued along the normal route instead of Schöne Gänge as planned.
When I got back to the upper cable car station, I had already missed the last one (which I had secretly counted on) and descended on foot to the upper cable car station for Kreuzeck. Since I had no orientation where I would come out, I thought of going directly to Garmisch but calculated that it might get dark by then. So I take Jägersteig to Hammersbach. It worked out just right as I arrived just as it got properly dark, from Hammersbach to the parking at the lower station it was about 20 min walk. From Garmisch to the car it would be longer (at least an hour). In Hammersbach I immediately found a pub for traditional beer (Bavaria of course!  ). From there to the car I went together with a German who had just come from Zugspitze (Hammersbach is the starting point for Höllental Klettersteig). He also went along the infamous Jubiläumsgrat (D, free climbing in places even up to -III). We chatted a bit more. When he learns I'm from Slovenia, of course he knows our mountains, Triglav,... At the cable car station we say goodbye and each to his car.
If I found beer right away (to have such problems with it in Bavaria as in France would be a shame ), I had even bigger problems with ice cream. All ice cream vendors were (similarly to France) closed around 22:00 (another example of a noble tourist place with no nightlife), well here McDonalds was still open as an emergency option but then I found a normal open pastry shop. Then I drove to the Austrian side to Ehrwald and to the starting point for the next day. You can already guess where!
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