Germany: Zugspitze (15/28)

After Großglockner we’d planned for a bit of a rest day, so we headed to the local outdoor swimming pool. It wasn’t an especially sunny day and by lunchtime it had started to rain. We started planning what to do next, and how to tackle Germany’s highest peak — Zugspitze. We also had vague plans to meet some friends in Switzerland, and the forecast suggested tomorrow would be the best weather for the next few days. So we decided to drive for Zugspitze, and attempt it the next day.

We chose a via ferrata route starting from the Austrian side, but first we had to drive through a section of Germany. As we drove through Garmisch-Partenkirchen the traffic was stopped by police as a procession dressed in traditional lederhosen & dirndls marched past accompanied by a marching band.

The next day we set off early, and arrived at the cable car station before it’d opened. We walked steeply up the side of a ski slope, and then onto a path which zigzag-ed up a steep scree slope.

The whole route was pretty steep; gaining 1800m in a relatively short 12km. The later section was via ferrata which we almost had to ourselves.

Gaining the saddle, we had a short section of summit ridge — still protected by steel cable — to reach the summit platform.

Here the two cable cars (one from the German side and one from the Austrian side) terminated. We also met the hoards of tourists. Stepping onto the platform was quite a shock; there were so many people. 

We struggled to find the true highest point, eventually we found the spire marking the top, but we also found the queue! We ended up queuing for around 45 minutes; waiting our turn to cross the 20m section of via ferrata to the top.

With that accomplished we beat a hasty retreat. We caught the cable car down, and with some now firm plans to meet some friends we headed to Switzerland.