Wilder Kaiser: Kübelkar ski tour & Hintere Goinger Halt (2192 m)

Spring has arrived in Munich and at short notice, Arno and I agreed to do a ski tour. Unfortunately, it was motorsport this time (the train to Ellmau takes 2.30 h) and we left Munich at 7.30 h summer time to arrive at 9 h at the Wochenbrunner alm up the hill from Ellmau. Together with many other Munich folk, we ascended the Kübelkar on hard snow as temperatures were below zero at night. 

Soon we hit the sunlit slopes that started to soften. The snow was yellowish due to dust from the Sahara, which had arrived a week ago. 

Unsurprisingly, many folk had the same idea. 

Here the stunning "vordere Karlsspitze" above Arno. 

We arrived on the bealach with the Fleischbank on the left. It looks less impressive than it is from here, as it falls away steeply from the bottom. 

We decided to ascent the hingere Goinger Halt and skied up on icy slopes to the ski depot. I was happy about my harscheisen... (once I had them on!)

Here is Arno approaching the hintere Goinger Halt. 

 

The Goinger Halt summit is exposed and several hundreds metre below, skiers ascended the Griesnerkar from the North. Here is the summit sign...

... and here a Dohle (jackdaw) waiting for our bread & nuts.

After that a descent to the ski depot...

... and then the long ski run down to the Wochenbrunner alm. 

Here a video…

Another Halcyon day…

HW

Dammkar ski tour with public transport

Arno and I had discussed ski touring this Sunday. The first goal was something in Austria but I am inspired by eco-hero Michael Vitzhum who does ski tours with public transport and so we decided to do the Dammkar which is ideal for a ski tour with public transport. Check out this video about Michael Vitzhum and his approach to ski touring with public transport: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRS5TSc8jio Also, public transport is cheap. We paid 25 EUR with the Bayern ticket and with that ticket you can travel all over Bayern for one day (Only after 9 h on weekdays but you can use it all day on weekends). 

So what does Dammkar actually mean? A "kar" is perhaps best translated as corrie for the Scottish mountaineers. The Dammkar is a huge corrie near Mittenwald in the Karwendel mountains which is a major limestone range of the northeastern Alps. 

Here I am around 6 am at the S-Bahn-station in Unterhaching. 

The mountain trains go every 30 min from Munich main station and it takes less than 2 h to Mittenwald. No traffic jams and time for breakfast, reading, or snoozing. 

The mountain train stops at several skiing destinations. Garmisch is a prime destination for Alpine skiing and ski touring, Klais for Nordic skiing, Mittenwald for ski touring and Seefeld is a world-class Nordic skiing venue. We left the train at Mittenwald. From the station, we needed roughly 20 min to get to the start of the ski tour and we were on snow from the start. 

Soon we ascended under an ultrabright spring sun.

The snow, however, was still hard neve and so we fixed the Harscheisen. 

Here, Arno leaves the forest...

... and here we ascend hard, icy neve runnels which were tricky at times. 

Here, we are higher up in the Dammkar. It is a mountain amphitheater and rightly one of the Munich ski touring classics. 

Here, Arno arrives at the top of the Dammkar and we had a wee lunch. 

A cold wind still cooled more than the spring sun was warming. A Spanish omelet & Scottish oatcakes lunch, skins off and down the steep Dammkar. Luckily my skiing has improved a lot since my time in Scotland and so I was fine with the aggressive turns needed on the hard neve. 

Here a look down. Two skiers descend whilst others ascend. 

Here, Arno is approaching the land of light...

... and here he descends the still hart snow in the sun with Alpine vistas in the distance. 

A final dash down an icy runnel...

... and then down the forest road/path back to the road and a springtime Mittenwald. Here, Arno descends into the village towards the station.

At the station we sat on some comfy chairs albeit in the shad and I had coffee and cake and Arno a radler. 

Here, one of the trains. They roughly leave all 30 mins towards Munich. Simply fantastic.

We had a "Reisebier", chatted and had a good snooze. 

At the train station a quick dash to the S-Bahn and within 20 minutes I was home. #bergsportisnomotorsport

For my Scottish friends. Munich is a fantastic mountain town. 

HW