Climbing and More Climbing at Teufelstättkopf

I love the Ammergau region. But the connection to get there, especially from my small town near Freising, is horrendous. This didn't stop me though. I called Bohdan, who supervised me breaking my finger near Pyramidenspitze (1997 m), and we set off early in the morning to arrive at Unterammergau around 9:15 AM and start the hike to the Pürschlinghaus.

Although since the climb to Kofel (1342 m) I got my stiches removed on my wisdom tooth holes, I was still anxious about overexerting myself. A few days earlier I slept on the wrong side of my face and ever since my lip started to go numb from time to time (I went to the doctor the day after and he told me it's fine and the numbness will go away). With the troubles I kept having, I tried to be extra careful while not limiting myself to a rudimentary beginner hike. The solution was to choose a normal route but to take my time and walk smoothly.

Around the halfway point of going up, Bohdan decided to speed up a bit and train by hiking up faster, so he left me behind and I got to the top a while later. Despite me taking my time, I still overtook some pairs and families of hikers going to the hut for a lunch snack. Walking past the spot where I fell off a cliff was eerie, but I also remembered the adventure of retrieving the lost hiking pole and recovered my mood.

Near the hut, I met back with Bohdan and we did a small detour to Pürschling (1566 m). It's a cool cliff overseeing the Linder valley, but the official peak is on a scary-looking west peak section with no climbing supports. While Bohdan climbed it and got down pretty fast, I decided to save my nerves and stayed on the easier section of the east peak.

Afterwards, we didn't linger near the August-Schuster-Haus for too long and kept going further up. I got to see the snowmobile that took me down after my fall though. The route towards Teufelstättkopf (1758 m) was pretty nice, with some steeper sections in the shade of spruce trees and some shallow sections with wooden bridges across muddy spots.

We again did a detour to Latschenkopf (1634 m) for completeness sake, spending some time looking for the spot that counted as a summit. Once we were satisfied with our location, we counted the peak as visited and turned around. This peak offers a great view of Laubeneck (1520 m) right beside it, but we weren't planning to visit it this time around.

The route to Teufelstättkopf (1758 m) was also cool, with a tiny cable-secured section towards the top. Although the polished rocks were slippery, the route was easily accessible by hikers of all age groups. I even saw an older lady with the same hiking poles as mine!

The view from the top of Teufelstättkopf (1758 m) is great. You get a better vantage point for looking at Zugspitze (2962 m), a full view of Sonnengrat, a distant mirage of Wank (1780 m), and all the other summits you expect to see from this area. If I'm not mistaken, from Teufelstättkopf (1758 m) you can even see Große Klammspitze (1924 m), which is a great high summit to visit for experienced hikers wishing to see Castle Linderhof!

We got down, had a drink and some snacks, and started our way down to Unterammergau across all the neighboring summits. First came the ridge path towards Auf dem Stein (1579 m). Despite how it looks on the map, the route is quite safe and many people take it both ways throughout the day. I distinctly remember how stuffy the air feels here. I guess all the warm air from both valleys below slams into the hillside of this ridge and rises up.

When you get closer to the rock itself, you have to do a bit of easy rock climbing, and you reach the top without even noticing. Although the view from the rock is not as picturesque, the accomplishment of getting there feels much better!

It took me a while to get down to the amusement of Bohdan, but at last we were back on track to Unterammergau. The path to the next summit was a typical mountainside forest trail with roots and occasional pebbles here and there. When I got home, I noticed my feet were fully covered in sand, and this section was the likely source of it.

Bremeneck (1354 m), the next summit, was a pretty simple flat mountaintop with a bunch of hikers taking respite in the middle of their journey. Despite the snake warnings, people were making shortcuts across the tall grass all over the place, while Bohdan led me through the official trail. Still, I managed to catch a tick somewhere here, which made for a fun time at home extracting it from my skin.

We kept going to Rosengarten (1425 m), the low summit with a great view of Sonnenberg (1622 m). Bohdan took a few photos while I was trying to catch up, and we headed onward and downward.

At this point, Bohdan asked me again regarding my hiking plan. While the original idea was to visit two more summits, we had around 1.5 hours to the next train, and my lip started to get numb again. I gave it some thought, but ultimately decided to try making it on time. Worst case, I was ready to let Bohdan run ahead and catch the train at his usual speed, while I would slowly descend and take the next one.

At Schartenköpfl (1372 m), we didn't rest at all. Bohdan managed to snap a few pictures on the way, I roughly followed him, and we continued down. At this point we were taking trails through the forest, some of which were hard to see, so at certain spots we just guessed the direction and made shortcuts.

Closer to the next summit near Scharten-Kapelle, we entered a wider gravel road used in forestry. It took us just a few more minutes to reach Köpfel (1194 m) to complete our challenge. There wasn't even a stick in the ground to denote the formal peak, but we were satisfied with being in the general area.

Bohdan wanted to do another quick section going north, since we had 50 minutes left. I wasn't so confident in myself, so he suggested taking the shorter route to Schleifmühlenkapelle and follow the rural road to the train station instead. I followed his advice and went down, making some wrong turns here and there.

Despite coming across tons of hikers on the way, I didn't see anyone until I reached the village. As I was passing local horses and cows, I met a nice farm cat relaxing on a bench. I haven't even touched him when he started to purr, so I had to scratch him at least a little bit as a reward. Since I was in a rush to catch the train, I had to part ways with the cat, but I'll make sure to grab some sausage snack next time around so I can treat him if he's there!

Overall, based on survey evidence, this hike is good for hikers with average experience regardless of age. I saw children, teenagers, their parents and grandparents all throughout the hike, so it must be quite accessible. I'd say it's on the more challenging side, maybe other people only do a portion of the total route, but the area and the summits are definitely worth checking out!