Hochalm in Completionist Mode

This was supposed to be the grand hike from Lenggries to Mittenwald over Soiernspitze (2253 m) that I've been planning ever since my trip with Mikuláš to the same mountain. Although the transport around Mittenwald is quite decent, I didn't want to repeat my run between Krün and Mittenwald to catch the last train like I did last time, so I cut down on the number of mountains, thinking of splitting the hike in two.

After planning the hike with my LigMapper app, I set off from Munich as usual. What wasn't as usual was the train delay, although the bus thankfully waited on the stop at the train station. We rushed towards the bus, filling it up like tuna in a can, and started driving towards Hinterriß. Our drive was cut short though, since police and local government workers blocked the way forward due to an active police investigation. Later in the day I learned the full story: a dead body was found early in the morning, the police did an autopsy and investigated the area, but everything pointed to a natural death.

Still, the path was blocked indefinitely for the investigation, and the bus couldn't turn around on a narrow road. My only option was to hike back to Lenggries. I quickly assessed my options and found Hochalm (1427 m) to be an attractive detour back, although the hiking plan was looking underwhelming so far. Upon closer inspection I saw a saving grace. The summit was placed in the middle of a long ridge with several peaks and some iffy roads which were barely visible on the map.

After having fun in Omiš on my Čeline (455 m) hike climbing through the wilderness, I somehow ended up getting into trouble again. My instincts were telling me that following the ridge was a bad idea, but I was quite certain the life risk was low.

The first challenge when you start this route is the barely visible trail near the Sylvensteinspeicher. The tall grass kind of reminded me about my last Geierstein (1491 m) hike, specifically Schlagkopf (1330 m). Although to be fair, the unkept road was closer to Hahnenkopf (1735 m) or Himmelschrofen (1791 m) near Oberstdorf. I distinctly remember feeling like nobody touched those trails in ages.

As I continued upwards, the somewhat visible trail got harder to traverse due to all the fallen trees nobody bothered to clear up. Walking around or over them was a doable challenge though, so I continued.

My first target on the way was Brandkopf (1258 m). I hoped to reach it and consider leaving this road to go down towards Röthenbachalm. The navigation was starting to look annoying and the trail was visible less and less. I occasionally looked back and the first few times still noted my bus staying at the dam, meaning I made a somewhat good call to leave on foot.

As I was climbing up, the only thing on my mind was my trip to Wildbarren (1448 m) that started equally randomly, but ended up with me hiding from the rain in a random hut. The forecast was promising this time around, so I tried to ignore the clouds in the distance and hike like usual.

The path forward was really annoying, with many ups and downs made even more difficult due to the lack of any marked trail. At some point I did see some markings, although they appeared to be ancient. Nevertheless, I somehow reached the first peak. As expected, there was no mark or cross at Brandkopf (1258 m), so I took an obligatory picture and continued.

The road to the next summit, Geißkopf (1352 m), was non-existent. Although most map providers don't show any route there, it is marked on openstreetmap as an abandoned mountain hiking path with bad trail visibility. Checks out. Most of the time I was just walking in the proximity of the trail, since the official marked path was also off at times, and often the trail wasn't there anymore at all.

Eventually, I got to the top of Geißkopf (1352 m). There was nothing there too, just some trees and a steep slope down with a barely visible trail. I was already quite exhausted, but it was too late to turn back, so I carefully descended to the flatter area up ahead.

My next stop, Gerstenrieder Kopf (1421 m), was a short distance away. The trail was slightly better visible. The peak itself was quite close to the main attraction of this whole hike, so I didn't linger much and headed down to the saddle that connects to Hochalm (1427 m).

After climbing one of many barbed wire fences for cattle along the way, I headed up to the main summit, Hochalm (1427 m). Not only is it a publically accessible peak with multiple roads leading to it from different sides, it even has hikers frequenting it, so I finally had some company for the first time during this trip.

After so much time being lost in the woods on a ridge, it felt amazing to sit down near the cross, surrounded by people and cows, eating my snacks. The view was also great: Buchstein (947 m) towards the north-east, Geierstein (1491 m) towards the north, Brauneck (1555 m) towards the north-west, etc.

Although there was no trail marked on the map from Hochalm (1427 m) towards Rosskopf (1403 m), there was a hut near the next summit on the map, so I assumed the trail should be there. I was right, after climbing over some more fences I found myself on a small overgrown trail towards the hut. I also noticed a path marked to the south-east of Rosskopf (1403 m), and believed I should end up there if everything goes according to plan. It did, and after climbing up for some time, I got to Rosskopf (1403 m), not marked in any way as usual.

Taking the trail down, I ended up on a well-kept tractor trail covered in stones and packed dirt. Another amazing feeling after all the mush of dried needles and moss I had to climb today. I walked down to the saddle connecting a bunch of tractor roads together and continued up one of the roads towards Breiten Kopf (1347 m) and further.

The peak itself was empty as usual, but this time at least I found some stones in a neat pile nearby. They were covered in moss, so they've lasted in that pile for a long time. The road from there on the map was looking even better, so I headed east considering if I should take the road towards north or south.

As I was going down, I checked the map again and saw yet another peak nearby, Saurüsselkopf (1364 m). Although I was very tired at this point, this was the last hike on the ridge, with Sonnberg (1576 m) to the east belonging to a different mountain range. Thus, for completionist points, I decided to make a detour and capture it. How hard could it be?

At first, I found an overgrown tractor road leading up the mountain from the normal road I was walking. It quickly deteriorated and I was walking on the worst path so far. Full on trees covering the tracks completely, thorns and spiky bushes covering the rest of the area, tall grass hiding stones and spikes on the ground. I managed to completely tear my hiking trousers, but it was too late to turn back.

After finding an opening and ascending quite some height, I was graciously greeted by yet another dense forest area that I had to climb through. It was just as bad as the first one, and I got some ticks sucking up my blood there. After lots of hardship I reached the top only to see nothing yet again. The GPS signal was jumping all over the place, but it circled somewhere around an ant hill on the top. I walked around it to make sure Komoot accepts this peak as visited, then headed down.

On the way down I was trying to find a better route. Backed up by my watch showing me the route up, I tried to walk around it while keeping close to the original track. It started off good, and eventually I reached a small opening in the woods that had some apples for animals to eat and a photo-trap to photograph them. I probably ended up on the footage too, oh well.

The opening had no other way to go. I climbed through yet more bushes and trees and ended up back on the overgrown tractor tracks leading to the normal road. At this point I was close to losing it from having to climb through so much dense vegetation, but I overcame my frustration, got onto the road and headed down. My legs were already hurting, but I was happy I covered the whole ridge in one day.

At the bottom near the Klaffenbach stream, the navigation app lead me right through it instead of following the gravel road. I didn't argue and followed, having to climb over more tall grass, getting myself very dirty. I walked onto an asphalt road with frequent bike traffic and headed to Lenggries.

After walking for some time, I noticed a shortcut skipping a detour around a hill that the bikers have to take for a smooth way up. This shortcut wasn't in a good condition, with sticks and fallen trees covering the road. Still, it was much better than the whole trek before that.

On the way back to the village, I came across Herrnköpfl (807 m), another small rock marked as a peak on the map. I walked around a fenced area and found a semi-official opening with some tracks leading up. After some climbing between pine trees I got to the marked summit, although it wasn't the real top of the rock standing there.

I circled the rock for a bit making sure the peak would be detected as visited, then headed to town between the meadows. The evening views were amazing: Hahn Berg (1321 m) and Stangeneck (1603 m) to the west, Schönberg (1620 m) to the east, Grasleiten-Stein (1268 m) and Geierstein (1491 m) up ahead.

The route through Mühlbach and into Lenggries was uneventful. I overtook some other hikers, but my legs were already giving out. Another issue that has been bugging me for a large portion of the hike was my water supplies running out. I remembered there was a single bar-like shop that worked on Sundays, so I headed right there to buy myself a drink. I found a currants drink there that I took without a second guess and enjoyed it on the way to my train home.

To sum up this weird journey, I would NOT recommend this hike to anyone. The only mountain I'd suggest others go to is Hochalm (1427 m), but you can reach it from Hohenwiesen or Achenpass and skip the whole ridge. It's tough to navigate, tough to traverse, and tough to bear. It costed me my trousers and dignity, but I'm still happy I got to experience it.