Day 9 Munich to Venice: Tuxer Joch Haus

There is something about walking in the company of Germans that brings out what frankly is a very wide competitive streak in my wife Christine.  Worst still are young athletic German women - they send her flying up the mountain with me struggling breathless  behind her.

Lizumer Hütte

Today all the above conditions applied and then some.

The walk was scheduled to take 6.30 minutes and involved 1250m of ascent and a climb over a pass.  The weather forecast was poor but worse early on.  There was fresh snow on the high ground and we had been warned that we would need to be careful.  The sensible option was a late start.

Leaving Lizumer Hütte and climbing the Geierjoch (2743m)

Day 8 Munich to Venice - Lizumer Hutte

17 km, ascent 1800m, descent 400m 7hrs

Having changed our itinerary and chickened out of the high level route from Glungezer to Lizumer Hut we spent all day trying to convince ourselves we made the right decision.  We definitely wouldn't have seen anything - visibility was down to 5m when we got to Lizumer, but the forecast rain didn't materialise so at a push we could have done it (and at least two of our fellow travellers  did).  We didn't see much on the walk up from Wattens because of the low cloud. The trail was wet and we both ended up with wet feet because the water got through our lightweight  shoes despite  the gortex. Critically however we would have missed out on the hotel in Wattens, a very good dinner and a delicous bottle of dry Austrian Reisling.  On balance I think we did the right thing.

Wooden chapel south of Wattens

Day 7 Munich to Venice - Wattens

From a planning perspective this is a tricky part of the walk. On my preferred itinerary tomorrow's stage is a high altitude walk from Glungezer Hutte to Lizumer Hutte. It's supposed to be a wonderful hike, one of the best on the whole trip, but it's tricky and needs good weather.  The weather forecast is poor for the next two days so we could have been stuck up there for two days waiting for the weather to clear.

One of the great things about this walk is that there always fellow travellers to discuss options with.

Our room mate last night was Remé from Munich.  He told us that the first Munich to  Venice itinerary, to avoid 'cheating' and using chair lifts, went via Wattens.  Once Christine realised that this meant staying in a hotel rather than a hut the decision was made and I'm now bashing out this blog in a comfortable hotel room rather than the top of a bunk bed.

Climbing up to Lafatscherjoch (2081m)

Day 6 Munich to Venice Hallerangerhaus

It wasn't even 8am and here we were climbing up a steep mountainside above last night's hut, clinging onto steel ropes. It was hairy, but it sets the tone. This was going to be a special day.

The long climb up to Schlauchkarsattel

We had an idea of what the first bit was going to be like. Pictures in local books showed a huge dry limestone valley, cliffs on either side and the imposing Bikkarspitze, the highest point in the Karwendel, at the top.  Everything went like a dream, steady, tough walking but we were making progress.  The only challenging bit was near the pass.  The sun had just hit the rock face and within minutes small rocks were crashing down and one, at great speed, bounced off the top of my bag.  It could have been worse.

On the Schlauchkarsattel (the pass)

On Birkkarspitz

Day 5 Munich to Venice - Karwendelhaus

The big news from Austria is that for the first time on this trip we have had a whole day of good weather.  After yesterday's  mega hike in the rain, today was relatively short and took us up into the spectacular scenery of the Karwendel Alps.

We left the hotel at about 10.  With six days ahead of us in the huts we were making the best of its  comforts.

The route took us further south up the Isar valley, the familiar river now a rushing mountain stream. Ahead of us, dominating the horizon was the great wall of the core Karwendel ridge, huge limestone cliffs with summits exceeding 2500m.  If all goes to plan we climb the highest one, Birkkarspitz (2749m) tomorrow. From where we were standing on the path it looked like an impossible task.

Heading up to the Karwendelhaus

Day 4 Munich to Venice Hinterriss

25 kilometres 850m ascent 1270 descent 9 hrs.

Today was another wet one.  It either rains all the time in Bavaria or just rains all the time when I'm here; it's wetter than Wales.

The first night in a hut was OK.  The food was good, the shower was good and although Christine said the two other guys in the room snored I didn't  hear them so I must have got some sleep.

Leaving the hut was hard. The rain just kept pouring down, and setting off in such conditions felt wrong.  Because we had such a long day ahead of us we either had to stay all day or go - we didn't have time to see if the weather was going to improve.

The first couple of hours were tough, a steep 400m climb up to a pass and an even steeper 700m descent down into the valley the other side.  The path was muddy and the slippery roots of trees made it treacherous.  We passed some other walkers on their way to Venice and passing walkers always cheers Christine up.

Day 3 Tutzinger Hutte

I'm sure that we could speak German and had understood the Rother guidebook we would have known what we were letting ourselves in for.  Forewarned would have been forearmed and we may even have decided to avoid one of the scariest stretches of walking ever and taken an easier option. As it was, ignorance was bliss, we 'did it' and we now have another to add to the list of Alpine adventures.

First day in the mountains and some challenges

The day started with a riverside walk to Lenggries and for a time the sun shone and it looked like the weather was going to be good.  At Lenggries we fueled up on cake and coffee and set off towards the ski-lift. All of a sudden the clouds darkened and a huge storm blew in from the west. We dived into another coffee shop hoping to avoid it. But it was still drizzling when we set off on the 800m climb up the mountain side.