Climbing the Bavarian Scottish Winter Climbing Trilogy

For some time, Arno and I were planning to try Scottish mixed winter climbing in Bavaria. So I bought a book that contained easy summer climbs and we decided to attempt some of these routes in winter. 

Project I Hörndlwand Schmid-Kunz-Weg III+

Our first project was the Hörndl near Ruhpolding on the 22th of November 2020. Here is Arno walking through the forest in early winter.

The Hörndl is an impressive limestone spire. The Schmid-Kunz-Weg (UIAA III+, re-christened as Hacke-Stramm by us) goes up on the less steep right-hand side. 

Here is Arno starting the route. The turf was frozen but dry gravel and not the juicy, frozen bomber turf that makes Scottish mixed so special. However, the position was good it was good to climb with ice axes and crampons.

The crux of the route is a polished, steep corner graded at UIAA III+ which seems a bit of a sandbag. We have done a long VI+ so this should have been a pushover but it wasn't.

Here is Arno on the crux which is getting on top of a protruding block which is like wrestling a wild boar covered in vaseline. Good that there was a bolt just below the block. 

Some easier pitches to reach the top and the sun. Different from Scotland but lots of fun. 

Here, we descent after our first winter climb in Bavaria. Great to be back in the game...

Project II Berchtesgadener Rinne III

Project II climbs the Berchtesgadener Rinne up the großer Rofotenturm near Berchtesgaden. We did it on the 30.12.2020. Here, the Rofotenturm appears behind the trees... 

And here we approach an unwintry Rinne. 

Time for some dry tooling...

... up the gully/chimney. 

After that a relatively short ridge and a climb to the top...

... which is a good vantage point over this part of the Bavarian Alps. Unfortunately, we could not see the nearly 3000 m high Watzmann, a classic mountain near Berchtesgaden. 

Next an abseil to the col...

... and another abseil down the rinne. 

Again, good fun climbing and no complaints about the bolts.

Project III. Ruchenköpfe Westgrat IV

Project IV was the Ruchenköpfe Westgrat. Here is Arno starting the ski ascent on the 14.2.2021 near Bayrischzell. This was a truly Alpine day, as we skied and walked in, followed by an 8 pitch climb, walk and bum slide descent, ski descent and then, unfortunately, some ski carrying. Here is Arno in the forest near Geitau. Little snow on the track but luckily the skins were protecting our skis. 

Higher up there was good snow cover and after the forest, we got the first glimpse of the Ruchenköpfe. The Westgrat (west ridge) is on the other side of the hill. 

Here is Arno a bit higher up and the Southern wall, which has several climbing routes, becomes visible. 

Here, an SLR selfie of myself. It was around -15 degrees in the shade at the start in Geitau and we were worried about the cold. However, the sun already had early spring power and so it did not feel cold at all. 

Here, is the West ridge. It is mostly scrambling and easy climbing apart from the steep wall at the end. 

This is Arno climbing the initial groove... 

... and here he is on belay further on. The ridge is easier than it looks at that point with blocky climbing. 

The picture below gives an impression of the scrambling. 

Here is the final steep wall that leads up to the summit. The climb goes up a chimney on the right and then traverses leftwards. 

Here is Arno during a mini traverse under a wee roof... 

... and here he climbs the overhanging, polished but blocky chimney.

After that a traverse to the left with the politically incorrect labelled "Weiberschreck" step... 

... to the summit in the February afternoon sun. 

Here is the summit cross...

... and here. After the summit we descended walking and bumsliding down the "Schnittlauchrinne" to our ski depot.

And instead of a long trek, we skied down hundreds of altimetres in a couple of minutes. Unfortunately, the snow was hard-packed with holes and icy lumps and so the skiing wasn't easy... 

Because of the limited snow cover, we had to carry our skis for the last 200 altimetres and 3 km to the car. Here is Arno during the "carry out". 

Conclusion? There is some great winter climbing in the Bavarian Voralpen and much more in Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Winter climbing here is not as popular as in Scotland but there are many decent routes and some of the locals now climb winter at a very high level!

HW