We should have brought an Ice Ax...

A winter ascent of the Krottenkopf in the Bavarian alps

After getting into hiking and scrambling up mountains this year I met up with Torben in Munich to do a bit of easy walking in the wintery December weather. However in now almost traditional fashion the easy walk turned into breaking trail in deep snow at 2.000m+ elevation.

Our original plan had been to traverse the Benediktenwand - a reasonable choice as there would have been very little snow if any and the whole thing is not too high. So we got up at 4:30 in the morning to catch a very early train to the trail head only to learn during the ride that the train would not go where we needed to go. After some discussion we switched out plan to an ascent of the Krottenkopf close to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. This mountain is roughly 2.100m tall and quite prominent allowing for great views over the Wetterstein mountains (with the Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak) and the rest of the Bavarian Alps (including the Benediktenwand...).

We arrived at the start of our hike at dawn and got on the way in cold but dry weather knowing that the round trip might take all the sunlight you get in December in the south of Germany. After 2km the ascent from 670m above sea level started on a steep but well established trail. At about 1.000m we saw the first light snow on the ground but the weather was still nice - no strong winds even though the forecast predicted gusts of up to 110 km/h for the area. At roughly 1.500m the snow cover was solid but still thin and wind picked up as we crossed a pass.

After the pass the goal of the day - the summit of the Krottenkopf 2086m n.n. - got into view. There would only be a maybe 1.5km traverse along the mountain side and then a short push to the summit from a closed mountain hut. Starting the traverse the snow got deeper and deeper and the wind stronger and stronger. In no time the whole thing felt like real mountaineering. The day before we joked about taking ice axes and crampons and now having those would not been out of place.

Having finished battling to the closed hut we dumped out backpacks and started the summit ascent. As the trail as snowed in anyways we took a straight line towards the peak shortening the amount of steps in the snow but increasing the angle. Having reached the top the wind gusts did definitely reach the promised 100km/h+ speed and the temperature drop to glove freezing “damn that´s cold” levels (it had been cold all day but now got really uncomfortable). After taking the necessary summit hero pictures we made our way to the packs and huddled behind the hut for a rest and something to eat.

The weather and the fact that we would reach the bottom in the dark anyways forced us to retrace our steps for the descent. With all the snow and the 1500m of elevation we had to lose the way back took us quite some time and we reached the bottom with the last light of the day. The day ended in the local “Wirtshaus” (Bavarian style inn) with a serving of pig rost with Knödel (+one additional Knödel for good measure).

I for one got the mountain bug and got some peaks on my list for next year already.

Adventurers: Torben and Bengt