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2008 Alpine Meet – All you need to know.

Where

The meet is in Garmisch, Southern Germany. Garmisch is at the foot of the Wetterstein Alps about 90 kilometres south of Munich. A camp site has been nominated, and is  Campingplatz Zugspitze, Greiner Strasse 4, Grainau, this is along the B24 to Grainau and is the nearest one to Garmisch.

Access

There are lots of options by road and cross channel ferry.

Munich International is the nearest airport and you can travel from the terminal to Garmisch in 2 hours with one train change  (source europeforvisitors.com)

When

The meet extends over one month from 19th July to 17 th August.

Subsidy

We have allocated £1,500 to subsidise this meet, members can claim the cost of their campsite fees from the club after the meet. Although the meet is a month long the subsidy can only be claimed for a maximum of 21 nights camping. Members must produce receipts for camping from the nominated campsite. If the meet is over subscribed i.e. the total amount claimed exceeds £1,500 then each claim will be reduced pro rata to keep the total under £1,500.

The Area

The Wetterstein Alps are a limestone range running west/east and form the frontier ridge with Austria. The highest point is the Zugspitze 2,963 metres at the western end and other major summits are Schnefernerkopf, Alpspitze and Hochblassen.

Walking

There are summit walks, valley walks and walks to huts and walks to lakes. The Rother walking guide 'Around the Zugspitze' describe these, Brian and Jean Harrison have a copy and tell me there is loads to do.

Scrambles and Via Ferratta or Klettersteig

The Cicerone guidebook “Klettersteig, Scrambles in the northern limestone Alps” describes ten routes in the area including routes to the major summits mentioned above. These vary from ridge walks with cables to protect the steep bits to vertical walls with metal ladders and high exposure.

Climbing

The area is good for muli pitch mountain rock climbs, there are many climbs between  200 to 300 metres long and some upto 1,000 metres long. The three main centres are; around the Meillerhutte, around the Oberientalhutte and Alpspitz. The Meillerhutte and Oberientalhutte are accessible by a 3-4 hour walk from the valley and the Alpspitz climbs can be reached by cable car from the valley. All centres have climbs of all grades of difficulty some with in situ protection and some with natural protection.
The guidebook” Kletterfuhrer ,Wetterstein Nord “describes the climbs in German and uses topo diagrams.
As far as I can tell there is not much single pitch sport climbing in the valley or any significant classic Alpinism in the mountains, however the mountain rock climbs look excellent.

Meet co ordinator

Betty McGregor is the meet co ordinator so get in touch with Betty if you are thinking of going. So far Jim, Betty, Margaret, John, Brian and Jean are going and have booked ferries and at least six other members have shown interest.

Pete Kelly