Beginner Kofel Climb
After getting two of my wisdom teeth removed and being forbidden from hiking for a week, I decided to try via ferrata climbing instead. The walk to Neufahrn NB went without trouble, so I felt ready for something a bit more complex. No crazy 30 km hikes deep in the Alps, but a very beginner-friendly rock to climb.
David, who hasn't hiked with me since the Zugspitze (2962 m) climb via Höllental, was itching for some casual hike starting in the afternoon. After some negotiation regarding the departure time, we agreed to travel to Kofel (1342 m) around 11:30 and enjoy our time there in the shade of the evening clouds.
The trip started quite chill, we followed the same route I took to Sonnenberg (1622 m) when I fell down a cliff and got hypothermia and frostbite. After a bit of walking along tourists of all ages, we turned to the cliffside and started our actual ascent. At this point I was still taking antibiotics for the tooth, so I made a quick stop for a fresh dose at 14:00.
As soon as we got onto Marxersteig, the trail going to the top of the cliff, we started seeing climbable rocks all around us. One of them had a cave-like hole and we wanted to check it out. I thought I saw a trail to it and we started climbing to get there. But once we got quite high, we were greeted with a very steep grassy wall that looked too sketchy to continue climbing. We stared at it for some time, but ultimately decided to turn back and not risk it.
We continued going up and soon saw the first group of rock climbers taking up a challenge of a grade 6+ boulder. A middle-aged couple were trying to climb it, and we stood there for a few minutes admiring the process. To not be too rude, we wished them a fun climb and kept going.
The rest of the trail was fine, perfectly walkable with no equipment and no cables to attach to. At the very end of this trail, near the crossroads leading down the other side of the cliff, we finally saw some metal chains to hold onto, although there wasn't much need in them.
All throughout our journey we kept seeing rock climbers and hikers, but this crossroads was much more crowded. Everyone was going somewhere, either up or down one the given trails. We let some people pass, but my patience soon ran dry and I climbed parallel to the cable on the side of the slope, allowing others to stay attached to the cable. Thankfully, the low difficulty of the climb allowed for such stupidity without negative consequences.
Judging by how many people were hanging around the slope, I expected to also see a bunch of hikers at the top. What I actually saw was around 4 big groups of families hiking together, and 1-2 groups of hikers with small children taking on the cliff as their first practice climb. Ever since I started hiking back in Ukraine, I was always happy seeing children on the routes, experiencing the hobby for themselves and getting excited about it.
We spent some time at the cross talking and taking photos, had some food, and were preparing to descend. Suddenly, a paraglider showed up out of nowhere, doing circles around us and enjoying the local views. We also enjoyed looking at him and other paragliders, but decided to get going. Before heading down, I took one last look at the scenery. Laber (1682 m) to the east, with the ice cream restaurant at the summit. Stecken-Berg (1385 m) and Schartenköpfl (1372 m) to the north-west, where all the elderly hikers go to enjoy nature despite the danger of snakes.
There was a small wooden structure on the way down from the cliff, which we took a look at, then continued all the way down to the crossroads. We took the other trail and continued down. This one was much more interesting, with steep sections of polished rocks and cables to clip onto.
As soon as we turned around the cliff to go down the southern side, we saw a glimpse of Bischof (2033 m) in the back between the other mountains. We walked down along with a family of hikers, where the daughter was rushing her mom to climb down faster, since her boyfriend was also being fast and she wanted to stay near him. It got bad to the point that even the boyfriend had to point out that the girl was being rude.
Anyway, we let them walk past us quicker and took our time on the way down, since David was worried his knees would start to hurt if he rushes things. Thankfully, no harm was done and we got down safely. The way back along the river was also nice, walking past the tiny Ammerschlössel with a view onto the cliff.
When we got to the train station, we were hoping to have a kebab or a pizza, but everything was either closed or lagging with the preparation process, so we gave up and went home on an empty stomach.
To conclude, it's a great routes for hikers of all levels. If you have a fear of heights or if you've never been on a via ferrata section, taking the equipment might be a good idea. Otherwise, you're fine just walking up and down relying on your hands. Some of the rocks closer to the top are quite slippery because of all the foot traffic, so be careful and take shoes with a good profile if possible.