Kampenwand

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

With another day of afternoon storms we decided to make the most of the forecast morning sun by getting up early and heading for a peak which was close to Munich, and almost out of the mountains in order to try and catch the best of the weather. We ended up deciding on the Kampenwand, as we could have a good day out with a reasonable amount of ascent, knew there would be wonderful views and that we could save our knees by getting the gondola back down. The ascent was initially up wide forest tracks, which meant that we made good progress, but in order to traverse under the impressive cliffs of the Zwölferturm we took the smaller path which ascended towards the Zwölferturm’s cliffs from the north. While the path was pretty steep up through the woods, it was certainly worth it for the initial views out towards Chiemsee over Erlbergkopf, and to see the impressive cliffs from up close. As the skies were still clear we didn’t hang around once we got up to the Steinlingalm, but instead headed straight up to the Kampenwand. This meant that. Read the full article…

Hörndlwand Climbing – Die Gnadenlosen Drei

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Rock Climbing Short Link

With a day of hot weather and a good forecast we decided to head back to where I had recently been walking on another hot day, as I knew that it meant that we would be climbing out of the sun. We headed back to the Hörndlwand in the Chiemgau for some multi pitch traditional climbing. The crag is fairly complex which lots of corners, and routes which can be linked together. However from the guide we struggled to work out what could be linked, so decided to just stick to one of the suggestions at the start of the guide. We climbed “Die Gnadenlosen Drei” a two star UIAA 5 route which was a 200m 8 pitch route. This route linked the following routes: Nordwestsockel – UIAA 4+ – 80m – 3 pitches Merklriss – UIAA 5 – 35m – 1 pitch Mittlere Nordwand – UIAA 4 – 55m – 2 pitches The walk up was very warm, but thankfully mostly in the shade, and we were very glad to confirm that the route was entirely in the shade when we arrived at the Hörndlalm. We were also pleased. Read the full article…