Tegelbergsteig Fairytale

With my dental surgery still affecting me, I convinced David to lay off difficult hikes and offered him to revisit Tegelberg (1706 m) a location I've enjoyed several times in the past both for Grade A/B via ferrata climbing and normal hiking.

Topo from faltershomepage.de:

The Tegelbergbahn cable car there offers amazing views onto the magical fairytale castle of Neuschwanstein, while the cliffs under its route offer great hiking and climbing routes of different difficulty levels.

On the way to the public transport I found a diamond wedding ring and gave it to the lost and found office. I'm quite certain the original owner won't be able to find it, but at least my conscience is clear. We started off with a walk through a nicely paved asphalt road towards the cliffs. Even there, you could already see the castles in the distance, giving us a preview of the scenery to come. Soon after, we turned off the road and onto a nice trail through the forest covering the whole slope, overtaking some other hikers on the way.

Although I had to take some breaks and walk slower due to my surgery, we still got to the bottom of the climbing section quite fast. We decided to put our via ferrata gear there and use the short grade A section at the start to warm up before the big climb.

That spot, near a dried-up waterfall, was already amazing in terms of the views. We were roughly on the same elevation as Hornburg (1101 m), looking onto the lakes and fields below in awe. Other hikers also took breaks on the same spot, enjoying the views and sometimes chatting with us. From the very start we could already see quite a few people on the different sections of the route.

After a bit of walking on the Gelbe-Wand-Steig grade A/B via ferrata after the waterfall break, we quickly reached the start of the Tegelbergsteig, the grade C via ferrata we've been aiming for. It starts off with a vertical ladder followed by a quick left climb with no metal rungs, which poses as a good beginner test to deter people who are not ready for the challenge. Although we eventually did the section, we got stuck there for some time due to a queue of other climbers, some of which brought their kids. Continuing on the route, most following sections have rungs and the cable is tight, making it easier to climb. The general rule of this route is: sevaral seconds of exposed climbing with smoothly polished holds (grabbing onto the cable and pushing feet off the rock) followed by a rung to rest and recover.

The first section of the climb gives climbers a good overview of the challenges ahead, so once you reach the bench with a small register casket in the rock, you should be able to judge if you are ready to continue or not. My camera ran out of battery at that point, so we had to wait there longer and recharge it with a power bank. This gave us a good opportunity to enjoy the views and look at the numerous paragliders circling around us like birds of prey.

The rest of the climb was more of the same, although I could see David losing strength and becoming more scared over time. He hasn't had the luck to fall down at Höhenglücksteig like I did, so he was more cautious and careful. I followed him and had a few issues of my own, mostly with stretching to reach holds and rungs, but at the end we managed to get to the top of the via ferrata and enjoy the views towards the mountaintop and the valley.

At the top, we took a tiny detour to get on a cliff and take some photos of the valley and the lakes near Neuschwanstein. The views were amazing, and the paragliders surrounding us made it even more magical. We also tried taking photos of each other, but I once again proved to be a crappy photographer.

From there, we made a short descent back onto the Gelbe-Wand-Steig via ferrata and prepared to visit the restaurant. Unfortunately, we spent so much time climbing that the restaurant was already closed, so we decided to head towards Neuschwanstein through the forest trail. The walk was peaceful and scenic, although we got completely distracted from it chatting.

After a long walk across the forest on the slope of the ridge, we reached the hillside leading to the castle. There are multiple viewpoints on the way, and we stopped at some of them to take photos and enjoy the views. There were still some tourists climbing up and down the mountain for the sunset scenery, but we were lucky to have the castle and the surrounding area mostly to ourselves.

The lower viewpoints are, unfortunately, mostly overgrown with trees, and there are usually heaps of tourists hogging the best spots. Despite the late hour, we still had to wait for a few minutes to get a clearer view of the castle. Still, we couldn't see much due to vegetation. After that whole adventure, we got down to the Neuschwanstein entrance and were greeted by a fully closed venue. The tourist shops, the souvenir stands, and the ticket office were all closed, with some strugglers still trying to get some photos before leaving.

After we took the road from the castle to the bus stop, we got on the bus and headed back to Füssen, where we had a short walk to the train station. At least in the bigger town some cafés and shops were still open, so we didn't starve on the way back.

To summarize this, it's an incredible experience for semi-experienced amateur climbers. I've done plenty of A/B via ferrata climbs, as well as some more exposed ascents with no safety cables, so this was a reasonable challenge for me to take on properly this time, with a via ferrata set and a helmet. The views are great, although the route gets quite crowded on the weekend. If you're interested, I recommend going there and trying to complete the first section of the climb, then checking the topo and deciding if you want to continue. Best of luck!