With winter stubbornly refusing to depart from Bavaria, Louise and I decided to head to the Hirschberg as it looked a great circuit, and not to long of a day. The initial ascent was pretty brutal, straight up the ski piste, which certainly got the blood flowing. Thankfully we were soon above the ski area and ascended up in the woods. Despite there being plenty of snow, it was all well trampled which made progress easy. When we emerged from the woods at the Rauheck Alm, it became clear that despite the weather being good we were not going to get outstanding views as the air was so hazy. We took the direct winter ascent up to the Hirschberg Vorgipfel, and then made the short detour out to the main summit of Hirschberg. Despite the haze the view from the top was great, I could see a number of recent walks and a number of walks which I am really keen to do. After enjoying some lunch we started the descent which was pretty straightforward thanks to the snow being the prefect consistency for descending. From the summit of Kratzer. Read the full article…

Due to the fresh snow we knew that route choice was key for the last day while Becky was here, however we also wanted to do a route with some interest and a reasonable amount of time above the tree line. We decided to head up Roßstein, descend to the Tegernseer Hütte, drop down to the north, climb back up to Hochplatte and then take the easy descent back down to the car. We set off on a sunny and relatively warm morning and made good progress on the relatively snow free ascent up to the Sonneberg Alm. The sun was really warm despite it being early, but the views were wonderful. From the alm the route up the Roßstein looked improbable, but unsurprisingly it was fine as it snaked its way up a hidden line of weakness. We made it to the summit without putting our spikes on, however after enjoying some lunch and the view we put our spikes on for the descent to the Tegernseer Hütte and down to the north, as the start of the descent was more exposed and the descent from the Hütte was. Read the full article…

After a few more days of snow the weather was forecast to improve in the afternoon, but we certainly did not expect the day we had. As the weather was still awful in the morning, and as it wasn’t a weekend we were able to enjoy a leisurely start. It was hard to believe we were going to have a good day when we left Munich in the snow, but we stuck with it, and we are so very glad we did. We decided to do the Brunnenkopf because it was a relatively short day, up a fairly low peak, with the majority of the ascent up a good track. The initial part of the ascent was fairly pleasant due to a series of waterfalls on the stream which was by the path, however it did then drag on as we ascended in the forrest with no view. This lack of view also hid the improving weather, so when we broke out of the forrest and had our first view it was a total surprise. All the clouds had vanished, and left crystal clear air and snow covered mountains. After. Read the full article…

We were expecting a fairly full on day out on the Notkarspize, as despite the wall to wall sun in the forecast, a 60km/h wind was also forecast on the summits. As we set off from the car park it all seemed quite calm, and a quick look at the Zugspitze weather station suggested that the wind had not materialised. We decided to head up the ridge past the Ochsensitz and the Ziegelspitz up to the summit of the Nortkarspitze and then descend into the north west corrie and then back down to Ettal. It was great to have a wonderful view of previously completed walks nearby, which include: Sonnengrat Kristenkar – Bischof – Wankbahn Kramerspitz Brünstelskopf to Vorderer Felderkopf Ridge Hinteres Hörnle Ski Tour The ascent up through the woods was over fairly quickly, although it was fairly frustrating with lots of icy snow patches, interspersed with dry path. Which meant that we couldn’t wear crampons, but had to move slowly to avoid slipping over. As we emerged from the trees we were greeted with a stunning view, as it seemed that the haze which had been present over. Read the full article…

After a day with poor weather and colder temperatures we had another day with an excellent forecast, just quite a bit colder than the previous few days. This reduction in temperatures lead to some wonderful winter walking conditions, as all of the old snow had re-frozen which made the conditions underfoot considerably easier than the previous few days. Rob, Becky and I headed to an area which wasn’t familiar to any of us, some mountains above Bayrischzell. We started fairly high from the car park at the Rosengasse ski center, which meant that we were above the snow line for the vast majority of the day. We followed the ski tracks up which took us up a slightly different, but almost certainly nicer route to join the ridge. With the refrozen snow we made great progress up the steep ascent. The views from the ridge were wonderful, and it was just great to be out walking along a ridge in such good conditions. There were a number of skiers out, but at no point during the day did I wish I had my skis, as the snow was very icy,. Read the full article…

After a few weeks of excellent skiing, the weather seemed to turn very abruptly to spring with warm weather and clear skies. After months of not being able to join me in Munich due to Covid travel restrictions, Becky was finally able to come out for a few weeks. Thankfully the weather once she had finished her quarantine was still beautiful, so we headed out to do the classic circuit of Herzogstand and Heimgarten. The weather was beautiful all day, and we certainly felt too warm in trousers and a t-shirt! The ascent up to the Herzogstand was fairly quick and we were greeted with exceptional views, the difference between the view to the north towards Starnbergersee and Munich and south towards the alps was amazing, and it was great to look down over Kochelsee and Walchensee. The ridge between the two looked brilliant with the last of the snow still covering the ridge, we had to put spikes on to get down to the start of the ridge as the descent was not in the sun, but otherwise the snow was all soft. The ridge was enjoyable, with some. Read the full article…