Hochplatte with Daniel

Published on 2006-9-17 by Michael Stanton

Hochplatte hike

September 17, 2006

Daniel could go for a quick hike Sunday morning. We left Munich around 6:20 and drove to the Ammergau alps, just near the Austrian border. We thought it would be rainy, but above low clouds we could see the peaks in sunshine - yes!! We had a great time hiking up, talking about Seattle, politics and all kinds of things. Shortly after reaching the ridge crest, we were in sunshine, with a dramatic "cloud sea" below us. We followed a neat narrow ridge to the summit of Hochplatte, then descended to climb another summit (Krähe) on the same ridge. Geiselstein was peeking out of the clouds from time to time. That summit has some great multipitch rock climbs that I can't wait to visit.

As we came down from the ridges to a pass where we'd turn back to the south in order to loop back to our car, we saw our first people of the day. A large and friendly group. They immediately offered us a drink of schnapps from their flask. I couldn't turn them down of course! I believe it was Williams (Grappa). With a hearty thanks, we jogged and walked down to the car, and had a good plate of Kaiserschmarm at the restaurant where we parked the car. Delish!!

Geiselstein in clouds

From the summit of Hochplatte

Daniel on the ridge

Clouds below

More views...

A little vale