After abandoning a multi day hut-to-hut hochtour in the Ötztaler Alpen due to the excessive snow and terrible weather forecast, we decided to make the most of the booked holiday by heading to the beautiful Rißtal for an overnight hike.

We started by heading into the Tölzer Hütte via the most direct way as we were concerned about the rain, needless to say we could have taken the longer variation as the rain came later than forecast as to start with we somehow just missed it, but when it came, it certainly came with plenty of thunder and lightening.

The walk up to the hut was hot work in the humid weather, but the walk was nonetheless enjoyable with views into the Karwendel and a nice path. After not too long we arrived at the hut and enjoyed the afternoon playing games and having a few beers in the hut. We even sent Katherine for a run up the nearby peak after we had been at the hut for a few hours and before the rain came.

The next day we woke up to a glorious morning and enjoyed a lovely, if not fairly wet underfoot, walk along the ridge above the Rißtal. It did feel odd leaving the hut and initially descending for quite some time, but at least we were able to warm up our legs before the ascent.

As we made it to the col between the Fleischbank and the Hölzelstaljoch the views into the Karwendel really opened up and were just fabulous. Unfortunately as we ascended to the Hölzelstaljoch the cloud came in which made this summit a rather non event, however thankfully the same cannot be said for the Grasberg, although the descent was a little less path than we had anticipated in places.

When we got to the Grasbergsattel we decided to head down as it seemed like we had had the best of the day’s weather. Unfortunately at this point in time we had 30 minutes until the bus departure and a 4 km descent with 540 vertical meters to lose, as the next bus was 2 hours later, I decided to run back down so that I could collect the car from the start, and thankfully I made it down in good time 25mins later.

We enjoyed a pleasant finish to the day with a trip up to the Engalm for some cake and a drink before heading back to Munich.

Looking into the Karwendel on the ascent to the Tölzer Hütte
Looking into the Karwendel on the ascent to the Tölzer Hütte
Looking into the Karwendel on the ascent to the Tölzer Hütte
Looking into the Karwendel on the ascent to the Tölzer Hütte
Morning view towards the Falkengruppe
Morning view to the Östlicher Karwendelspitze
Morning view to the Östlicher Karwendelspitze
Tölzer Hütte Selfie
View towards the Östlicher Karwendelspitze, Dreitorspitze and the Soiernspitze
Atmospheric conditions on the Vogelkarspitze
Atmoshperic view towards the Rafelspitze
Descending from the Baumgartensattel
The Gamsjoch and Falkengruppe
The Sonnjoch and Gamsjoch
Katherine and Becky in front of the Gamsjoch and Falkengruppe
On the ascent to the Hötzelstaljoch
Atmospheric view towards the Falkengruppe
Descending from the Hölzelstaljoch
Descending from the Hölzelstaljoch
Descending from the Hölzelstaljoch
Ascending to the Grasberg
Approaching the summit of the Grasberg with a vew back along our walk
Grasberg summit selfie
Descending from the Grasberg looking down towards Eng, the Sonnjoch and the Gamsjoch