ABOVE: You can hike from the Zugspitzplatt
cogwheel-train station to the Mariä Himmelfahrt
Chapel, which is the highest church in Germany.
Summer sports
Don't plan on taking the cablecar to the Zugspitze's summit
ridge and walking down--the upper slopes of the mountain are too steep
for hiking.
The Bayerische Zugspitzbahn suggests two easy (and extremely
short) hiking excursions atop the mountain:
Follow
the trail to the cross on the mountain's summit (assuming that you aren't
bothered by heights). You'll be standing at 2964 meters or 9,724 feet, with a
superb view of the mountain and the surrounding region.
Walk past the Münchner Haus and
through the enclosed bridge to the Tyrolean side of the summit ridge,
which offers impressive views of the Austrian Alps.
A few hundred meters down on the glacier, next to the Sonn Alpin
restaurant and the cogwheel train's station, you can walk across to the viewing
platform at the Windlöche ("howling
wind hole") in about 30 minutes. The Bayerische Zugspitzbahn has other
suggestions for hikers who are willing to spend six to eight hours walking
downhill from the glacier area: one to the Olympic Stadium in
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and another to the Austrian village of Ehrwald (where
you can catch a train back to Germany). For details, pick up a brochure at any
Bayerische Zugspitze ticket office or e-mail:
Mountaineering is another option, although several of the other
mountains around Garmisch-Partenkirchen are of greater interest to climbers.
(The best climbing months are July through September, but the weather can be
unpredictable--as you can tell from the photos of snow-covered scenery in this
article, which were taken on September 28.)
Lakesmountainseurope.com offers
directions
for an 9½-hour hike to the Sonn Alpin and the glacier via the
Partnachklamm, the
Reintal, and two huts or refuges.
For more information, see the "Summer" pages at
Zugspitze.de.
Durant
& Cheryl Imboden's
Follow
the trail to the cross on the mountain's summit (assuming that you aren't
bothered by heights). You'll be standing at 2964 meters or 9,724 feet, with a
superb view of the mountain and the surrounding region.