Challenging my Health at Dürnbachwand

With my tooth feeling a bit better after the surgery, and having the Walchensee round trip under my belt, I was ready for a light hike to test my health. David was also up for a challenge with his usual limitation of 800 m of ascent (on the map measurements), so I offered a set of routes to him and he chose the Dürnbachwand (1260 m) ridge, the last remaining ridge between Schliersee and Spitzingsee that I had not yet hiked.

I've been on the neighboring ridges before: once on Brecherspitz (1685 m) with a fever and several times on the opposing ridge, largely doing one mountain at a time. Rainerkopf (1463 m) with Serhii, Wasserspitz (1552 m) and Stümpfling (1506 m) with David, and Rinnerspitz (1611 m) and Bodenschneid (1669 m) with DAAD FK.

After a chill train ride to Neuhaus, we left the station and immediately started the ascent. It's crazy how close the hill is from the settlement. I have to note though, that the trail marking the start of the route is a bit hidden, stemming off of the Bockerlbahn-Weg trail I checked out in 2024.

Since the settlement at the station is at roughly 800 meters from sea lavel, the ascent to the ridge and the first peak Anklspitz (1112 m) is quite steep. The trail is not that well maintained, but still much better than my recent hikes, like the one to Großer Laber (1466 m) I took with David at the start of the month. The last bit of the ascent to the cross itself is a bit steep, but nothing too challenging. The view from the top is nice though, with Wendelstein (1838 m) in the distance.

From this point onwards, the actual ridge trail starts. It's quite steep and narrow, going through a lot of wonky sections with gravel, dust, and wobbly rocks. In dry weather it's an amazing feeling to ascend so quickly while looking at the views ahead through the narrow ridge. In other conditions, I would recommend staying away from it. The next peak on the way, Dürnbachwand (1260 m), is not that far away, so we ended up there in no time.

Schlierseespitz (1279 m), the peak after Dürnbachwand (1260 m), is just a few minutes away, offering the same views and no markings. We walked past it and continued towards an unnamed 1445-meter peak on the "difficult alpine hiking" trail.

The road really does get difficult there. On occasions, you have to climb up steep (but walkable) sections with tree roots and rocks, making for an interesting traverse. Other times, you have to climb up cliffs with no cables, handholds, or other aids. It's not that difficult though, and the whole time you walk on the south-eastern side looking at Brecherspitz (1685 m) and other mountains in the distance.

Once we got over the hurdle and reached the peak, the road became much easier. We still had to climb upwards, but the trail was much more walkable and we could enjoy the views while catching up on our lives. The next peak, an unnamed 1524-meter flat summit, was still quite some distance away, so we got deep into the conversation and stopped paying close attention to the trail.

In-between our discussions, I was trying to give David some information about the surrounding mountains, especially the ones I visited, like Jägerkamp (1746 m). Unfortunately, this info fell on deaf ears, as he wasn't trying to soak in any of the things I was saying. Around that point we came to a barbed fence that we had to step over using a very delicate unstable stepover. I was worried to tear my trousers for the third time, but I mostly got over it without issues.

From there we descended a bit to a saddle leading to Ankel-Alm (1311 m) and joined the normal flow of hikers going up to Freudenreichkapelle (1587.2 m). The trail was a bit crowded, with people slipping while descending, but we stayed to the side and let them pass.

From there, the trail splits into two equally easy sections. One of them goes down to Freudenreich-Alm (1262 m), while the other goes up to Brecherspitz Vorgipfel (1643 m). I gave David the choice and warned him that I visited that peak already. He was interested in trying out Brecherspitz (1685 m) itself and descending to Obere Firstalm (1369 m), so we chose that route, going past the Birkenstein shrine on the way.

From there the route was easy. We quickly walked past Birkenstein, let a bunch of hikers pass us, talked about being hungry for a while, and eventually reached Brecherspitz Vorgipfel (1643 m). It was overcrowded, with people laying on the grass, on the antenna platform, and on the rocks. Others were passing by on the trail, going both directions.

Since the ridge, the road down is very comfortable if you don't have a fever. The route is well-kept given the traffic, the trail is wide and has steps on slightly difficult or steep sections, there are people walking dogs there. At this point, we got back into our conversations and stopped observing the terrain again, although I did point out the huts and the Stümpfling (1506 m) summit to David, since he visited it in the past.

From there the trips was the same old. We went to Obere Firstalm (1369 m), checked out the menu and the prices, and listened to local musicians playing there. David wanted a different dish not offered on the menu, so he asked us to descend to Untere Firstalm and check the menu there.

The menu at the bottom hut was also not to his liking, so we made the decision to head down to Spitzingsee and look for food there. I was really unlucky with booking tables there in the past and warned David that the story might repeat. Thankfully, when we came down to the lake, most of the restaurants had empty tables and David was able to get exactly the meal he wanted.

To summarize the hike, I would highly suggest it to experienced hikers not afraid of open ridges, steep ascents, and heights in general. The views are amazing, and arguably better than the neighboring ridges. For everyone else, I would suggest taking the simplified version from Ankel-Alm (1311 m) across Freudenreichkapelle (1587.2 m) and over to Obere Firstalm (1369 m). It's much more accessible to hikers of all skill levels, and offers the majority of the views you get on the ridge. You miss out on the cliffs though!