ZUGENSPITZ, GERMANYS PEAK
VIA ALPINA DAY 30 – TUESDAY 21 JULY 2026
REINTALANGERHÜTTE – NEAR WOLFRATSHAUSER HÜTTE
DISTANCE HIKED: 25 km
ELEVATION GAIN: 1,787 m
TOTAL DISTANCE HIKED: 761.80km
TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN: 40,405m
It was almost 9pm last night by the time we had our beds assigned. It was nice to get cleaned up and get horizontal. We were regretting not pushing onto the next hut yesterday. It’s a shame that camping is strictly forbidden in Germany as we saw many great spots which would have been really nice campsites.
We slept really well despite sharing the dorm with 7 others. It was a glorious morning and after a quick breakfast we were on our way by 7am.
At first the trail weaved its way through a huge dry creek bed. We could see a line of hikers up ahead beginning to ascend towards Knorrhutte. It was a steep climb but the views of Zugenspitz, Germanys highest mountain, and the surrounding peaks were breathtaking on this the clear blue sky morning.
I kept stopping so many time to take photos. We made it to the hut in under two hours. Pretty pleased with the effort and the fact that it was on a such a beautiful day.
From the hut most hikers continued on towards the ski lift at the top of Zugspitplatt.
We turned off to the left and headed towards the Austrian border loosely following the curve of the mountain.
At first we worried that we were the only hikers heading in this direction. We needn’t have worried. There were two hikers behind us and soon dozens were passing heading the other way. The trail was in a reasonably good condition with fabulous views. We crossed back into Austria at a crowded border crossing. There were many jokes about passport control as there was a gate to go through.
Hammer was storming ahead on any descents while I picked my way down slowly. I was descending a section of trail with a steel cable for handholds when a voice behind me, in a distinct Australian accent said, don’t worry take you time. And so we met Mike and Kristy. They are also doing the Via Alpina on a similar schedule to ours. They are originally from Adelaide now living near Banff in Canada. They are experienced mountaineers and hikers. We hiked together for a bit and stopped for a drink at a Hochfeldern Alm. There were so many hikers heading up and combined with a big herd of cows nearby it looked quite chaotic.
It was nice to spend time with other Australians and share travel stories and about experiences on trail to date. From the Alm, Mike and Kirsty hiked towards Biberwier while Hammer and I took the trail down into the valley towards Erwahld and Lermoos. Hope we can meet up on trail further along.
We followed the gondola down to the valley. The mountains peaks were getting shrouded in mist as we moved further away.
Reaching the outskirts of town we realised there was a serious gnome collector community in town. Lou-Seal couldn’t resist having her photo taken with a select few in the front yard.
Erwahld was a truly beautiful town surrounded by craggy mountain peaks. It had a lovely feel, with lots of people out and about which made we want to linger. We stopped at the supermarket and got some supplies for the next day or so. Hammer wanted to sit in the valley at a picnic table, in the shade and have a sandwich. And lo and behold just such a setting appeared, as ordered. The universe continues to provide. We stopped at a picnic table in this beautiful valley and made our ham and cheese baquette which we ate while enjoying the spectecular mountain views.
There was a nice cycle path through the valley which joined Lemoos with Erwahld and it was good to see people out cycling, hiking and golfing nearby.
After our late lunch break we headed up to Larmoos and from there it was a steep ascent through a pine forest up to Wolfratshauser Hütte.
The trail paralleled what looked like a daredevil, mountain bike shute that went straight down the mountain. We saw a few hikers heading down and I was tempted to join them. Erwahld was calling me back.
We convinced ourselves to stay at the hut rather then camp, especially since we passed a few reasonable good camp sites. So we were most disappointed to arrive at the hut and find nobody around and the door shut. If we were better organised we would have known that the hut is open by reservation only. Hard to believe there were no reservations for today, as most huts have been busy.
So we ended up backtracking to a nice campsite. We just got the tent up when a brief rain shower passed over.
