Saturday August 23
Week 2 in Garmisch-Partinkirken (GAP for short) - another cool and cloudy day. We started to walk up to Hausberg but got lost on a dead-end track so we made a U-turn and trekked to Rissersea - all up 2 hours for a 3-boot trek. We stopped at the Rissersea hotel's outside terrace overlooking the lake for lunch - a small serving of Kasespaetzle for me and wiessewurst for Dieter. We then walked back to the base of Hausberg were our car was parked - a pretty flat walk of about 30 minutes. We did some shopping on the way back to the apartment and stayed home for dinner of veal shops which were not good at all - most ended up in the garbage; fortunately we finished off with black current sorbet and fresh berries with Kirsch for dessert.
Sunday August 24
It rained very hard overnight but by morning it has eased off to drizzle then stopped - it was a cool day (high around 17℃) with only the odd sunny patch. We hiked up to the Kreuzeck - estimated as a 3 hour 4-boot trek but we made it in just over 2 hours - total ascent was 900m - excellent work !! We took the gondola back down to the base planning to have lunch at the K2 Cafe at the base but alas they were only serving drinks as their food delivery was running late (it was almost 1pm). So we had a drink then drove to town where we had lunch at a cafe - soup and salad for me, sausages, sauerkraut and potatoes for Dieter.
Back at home we relaxed and had mushroom pasta and salad for dinner.
Monday August 25
We had a great day - mostly sunny and low 20’s. This was excellent as we had today marked for our trek to the Hoellentalklamm then onto Kreuzeck (totally different route from Sunday). This hike had been on Dieter’s bucket-list for 60 years. The Hoellentalklam (translated as Hell’s Valley Gorge) official description follows:-
“ The Hammersbach stream with glacier run-off carves its way down through the high mountains, tumbling over boulders and dropping over cliffs into pools with milky foam, roaring and thundering along the way.Some of the adventurous sections of the trail go through electrically lit tunnels where you can hear the dampened pounding of the wild water through small windows. From the bottom you follow the signs to the alpine lodge at the bottom entrance to the gorge, the Klammeingangshütte (1047 m), which you will reach after approx. 1- 1 ½ hours. From here you hike through the gorge, passing through tunnels in the cliffs going over small bridges and up steps, until you reach the end of the gorge at 1193 m ) - another hour or so. From here you continue hiking to the Höllentalangerhütte, the alpine lodge further on up with a splendid view and food and lodging (Attention: The Höllentalangerhütte is closed for constructions and it won't be open in 2014). The wide green valley here reveals a view of the Waxenstein peaks, the Riffelwände walls and the Höllentalferner glacier with the towering peak of Zugspitze 2962 m (9,717 ft) in the background. "
From the (closed for re-construction) hutt at the top you can either turn around, hike on to the top of the Zugspitz (a mere 7 hours away and 1600m additional altitude) or continue onto Kreuzeck - we choose the third option after talking to some people who had done it before; however, we later learned this had been 30 years prior. It turned out to be very difficult - a 4-booter for sure. It took 2.5 hours along a steep rocky cliff side track - not at all good for vertigo. But we made it - 5 long hours from the very beginning - what an achievement and it’s another one off the old bucket-list.
From the top of Kreuzeck we took the gondola down, then the train back to the start of the Hoellentalklamm where our car was parked. Here we stopped at a lovely hotel outdoor terrace for a well deserved refreshment - a beer for Dieter and an Aperol Spritzer for me (my favourite apéritif at the moment). Back at home we showered then went out for dinner at Koch’s (the #1 rated restaurant by Trip Advisor in GAP). It was pretty good but not worth a return visit.
Tuesday August 26
After yesterday’s mega walk we had a bit of a rest day. Dieter went back to the eye Doctor in the morning then we went to Panorama Gasthaus (a couple 100 meters up the mountain) for a very mediocre lunch - they did not offer the very items we wanted which we had seen on their web site menu. We stayed home for dinner.
Wednesday August 27
It was a rainy day so we took the opportunity to visit one of King Ludwig’s castles - Linderhof Palace. We again stayed home for dinner of left over pasta and pork chops.
Thursday August 28
It was a beautiful sunny day - we drove to Mittenwald and took the gondola to Karwendel - it was glorious - stunning outlook and lots of really tough walks (mainly ferratas - meaning guide wires and hand/foot holds up vertical ascents/descents) - we did a relatively short one (1-2 hours) as others required ropes and harnesses. We had an excellent lunch on top.
We had dinner at the Bistro Riendl’s - it was a 10 out of 10.
Friday August 29
Our last full day in GAP. It was a sterling day - partly sunny and warm - low 20’s. We went to Staffelsee for a boat cruise followed by lunch, visited the charming town of Murnau then stopped at an outdoor museum. We finished off the cold cuts for dinner while doing the last of the laundry.