Benediktenwand the Long Way
The hike started off with me and Maksym catching up after not seeing each other for quite some time. Although the route I planned was quite long, he was happy to join, and I trusted his fitness. The way near Lenggries was nice, the sunscreen helped against the scorching sun, and the route between the trees was bearable.
The next section of the hike was improvised. The trail we were planning to take was barely marked on the map, and it showed. Overgrown with grass and ferns, it was hidden from sight, so we took the straight way up to the ridge near Bergstation Schrödelsteinbahn. There's a cliff some people beside us were climbing, which was really cool to see from the side.
Once we got to the top of the ridge, we saw quite a view. Behind us was Brauneck (1555 m), with paragliders flying up from it. On the other side were all the hills and peaks towards Benediktenwand (1801 m). Towards the south, we were greeted with Jachenau and all of the surrounding mountains there.
When we reached Stangeneck (1646 m), we didn't find much to look at. No fancy cross, no groups of tourists resting there. It was just a transit point towards bigger summits ahead. Still, it was nice to look around and take a short break.
When we were walking near Vorderer-Kirchstein (1670 m), the peak there was slightly elevated near the route. In retrospect, we should have visited it, but being already tired and having many kilometers ahead, we skipped it altogether.
Next up was Latschenkopf (1712 m), one of the cross-abled summits on our way. It was a bit fancier than some others, with the Stiealm mountain hut underneath and forests surrounding it. There's also a detour to Hinterer Kirchstein (1667 m), but we also skipped it.
After crossing Probstalmsattel (1628 m), the last possible detour we could take on the way, we decided to commit, visit Achselköpfe (1710 m), and proceed onto Benediktenwand (1801 m). The Achselköpfe (1710 m) was wilder than we expected. With drop-offs on both sides, the narrow trail surrounded by bushes and spruce vegetation led us straight to a Benediktenwand (1801 m) view.
The last bit of the way to the final peak also caught us off-guard. There's a very small grade-A via ferrata section there, which Maksym hasn't experienced before. He was tired and hungry, hot from the sun and dry from the depleted water supply we had. Once we reached the top, we took some photos, and started checking them out. In the background of the photos, we saw some really dark clouds, and looking up confirmed our worries.
We quickly packed our stuff and headed downhill, with the rainy clouds turning into a full-blown thunderstorm. Although the way towards Tutzinger Hütte was quite steep with some smooth stones that turned wet and slippery, we had no choice and rushed down. On the upside, we saw an ibex goat hiding from the rain in an opening on the mountain, which was nice. Apparently, that's the mascot of the mountain ridge, plastered all over merchendise and postcards.
Tutzinger Hütte themselves were nice too. We got some warm drinks and stayed a bit to dry up, hoping the rain would be over soon. Our phones were useless and caught no internet, so we tried asking around for weather reports. One of the hikers asking for an overnight stay told us the rain will continue all the way into the evening, so there was no point leaving the hut. Well, we had other plans - a working day on Monday morning.
We waited for the worst part of the thunderstorm to subside and headed outside. Trying to hide under the trees, we kept going through the slippery trails, falling into deep rain puddles and grabbing onto surrounding bushes for balance. The local black salamanders took center stage here, forcing us to avoid them among other obstacles while running downhill. Although we saw more than 50 of them, we didn't take any photos, since the phones were also soaked.
Once we entered a wider dirt road towards Kochel, we took a wrong turn onto a hunter's trail going nowhere, and waster an hour walking there and back. The rain was still tough, but at that point we got used to it. After going back onto the correct trail we finally exited the mountainside and entered Pessenbach, a local settlement near Kochelsee. Although the worst was over and even the rain slowed down, we still had to walk all the way to Kochel, with not a single car stopping to pick our wet butts up.
To recap, this route offers some amazing views of the ridge and everything around it, and there are plenty of peaks you can visit by making small detours. The hike is definitely on the hard side, but there's nothing particularly dangerous there, just a lot of walking. Also, for more casual hikers there's plenty of crossings where you can end the hike early and head home. Try it out!
