WETTERSTEIN MOUNTAINS
VIA ALPINA DAY 29 – MONDAY 20 JULY 2026
SCHAMITZ – REINTALANGERHÜTTE
DISTANCE HIKED: 32.5 km
ELEVATION GAIN: 1,115 m
TOTAL DISTANCE HIKED: 736.80km
TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN: 38,618m
A slice of delicious Austrian cake and a big mug of coffee to start my birthday. As we had to wait for the supermarket to open Hammer caught up on last nights World Cup Final online. He thought that Spain deserved the win. He was also happy to see that Pogacar may have secured another Tour France win, although disappointed Vingegaard crashed and is out of the tour.
Yesterday afternoon was a good reset, a chance to dry everything and take an afternoon rest break. Today we were heading into the Wetterstein mountains, a mountain group in the Northern Limestone Alps crossing the Austria – Germany border.
The morning looked clear in town while the mountain tops were socked in a heavy fog.
We looked at the next stage of the trail and worked out that we could reach our destination without going up to MeilerHutte and then a steep descent to reach the Reintal valley. The summit looked like it was fogged in and taking care of my knee we chose a route with less knee crushing descending through loose scree. The route we chose was longer with about 500m less elevation gain and loss. The route as we found out through the day is very popular with locals especially with mountain bikers.
We followed the fast flowing Isar river towards Mittenwald and crossed into Germany. The Isar River flows all the way to Munich. It was tempting to follow the river and just keep walking to Munich.
From Mittenwald we started the ascent to Lautersee, a serene looking turquoise lake with a restaurant, coffee house and holiday accommodation around its shore.
A short way up we passed another georgeous lake, Ferchensee. One of the more beautiful lakes we’ve ever seen. I really wanted to stop here for a little longer and absorb its beauty and tranquility. But a photograph will have to do.
The rising valley was really quite pleasant. The bees and butterflies were prolific feeding on the flowers. I stopped so many times. It felt too good to be true. The mountain tops were still socked in a thick fog. We were feeling pleased with our chosen trail.
As the valley opened up we thought we could hear the ping of a tennis ball being hit. So surprised to come upon a quite flash looking wellness retreat with tennis courts. Never too far from people.
From the resort we followed the Ferchenback river downstream knowing that at its junction with Partnech River we would need to start ascending towards RaitalangerHutte.
Although we passed a few groups of hikers heading in the opposite direction it was still a big surprise to come to the river junction and find a big construction worksite and hundreds of people who look like they’ve just driven up and parked around the corner somewhere.
We stopped for lunch by the beautiful and fast flowing river before starting our ascent to the hut.
We followed turquiose coloured river rushing downstream while we hiked upstream on a really well made trail. At some point the sound of rushing water disappeared. The river had gone underground. We hiked in silence for a couple of kilometres before we heard a sound like a roar of a jet engine. Through the trees I could see a huge waterfall coming out of a tunnel in the mountain. A very spectacular sight and sound.
The ReitalangerHutte was located just upstream of this spectecular waterfall, on the banks of Partanch River. The hut was very busy and as we soon found out was fully booked (110 beds). Camping is strictly prohibited with severe penalties if caught. The friendly hut staff explained that they are under an obligation to provide us a bed. We just have to wait to find out after dinner.
We shared a dinner table with two mountain bikers who passed us on the trail earlier in the day. They are from Munich and get out to the mountains fairly regularly. They both spoke excellent English which enabled a very pleasant night of conversation and laughs over dinner and a beer. They work as freelance cinematographers which makes it difficult to take extended time away to take longer trips.
And I really need to say that today we had a cow free day which was great. A few goats in a pen early on and that was it. We had a great day hikung towards Germanys highest mountain Zugspitze.
