Any one know what the snow level has got up to in the Bavarian Alps? Or more specifically around Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

From the http://www.zugspitze.de/livecams/cam4.htm wankcam it does look to be going quite fast, but if anyone has up to date info on such as the Alpspitze I'd be grateful to hear. I'm out there from next Wednesday for 7 days mountain hiking.

I don' t know the exact snow conditions, because I' m in the USA right now, but I don' t think that there is too much snow left (especially on the south sides). The north sides above 2200m may be very snowy. Maybe the webcam at Schneefernerhaus (Zugspitze, http://www.schneefernerhaus.de/camera.htm) helps you to get a better view from higher on the mountains. Unfortunately Alpsitz cannot be seen with this webcam.

Thanks Lukas.

That web cam and the Wankcam will help me a bit in deciding where to go.

I hiked up the Alpspitze-ferrata this morning, and it's mostly snow free. I descended the normal way, and there was pleasant "boot skiing" snow for 250 meters. Overall, snow shouldn't give you any trouble. It's a neat peak!
--Michael

I was in the Karwendel for a couple of days, just got back today. It´s only ´round the corner. Still quite a bit of snow around there. But it wasn´t too bad. Maybe you can extrapolate that to where you´re off to Bryan.

Enjoy it matey! The weather was great untill last night when it broke with thunder storms. But the alpine forecast is for typical sommer weather, i.e. can give thunder in the afternoons, but the tendency is decreasing. So maybe you´ll strike lucky!

Cheers

Charles

mvs and Charles.

Many thanks to both of you.

That's just the information I needed!

By the way mvs, the "normal way" you used to descend the Alpspitze was presumably the east ridge? That's the way I plan to ascend and descend: I'm not ready for the via ferata yet!

Sure thing, have fun! As a matter of fact, I was up there again today and here is a fresh pic of the North Face:

Thanks mvs... My son and I have been waiting for the snow to leave for a couple weeks now. We're heading up there this weekend based on your information. Thanks a bunch!

Despite the help here I didn't manage to hike to the top of the Alpspitze.

I'd done a good hike on Day 1, (Notkarspitze), and got partly acclimatised to the heat and humidity. Day 2 was a Rest day and I felt at my best on Day 3. That was the only coolish day with low cloud and fog higher nearly all day higher up and the only day without storms. But with no visibility I didn't want to go up the Alpspitze so did Farchant to Wank and the various summits up there, the very easiest of hikes even for me.

After that the heat and humidity took their toll and I was concerned about taking a long time on the Alpspitze and getting caught in a storm: there were some incredibly fierce storms around. A couple starting quite early in the afternoons.

I've got time now to continue working on my fitness and losing more weight and hope I can get the right weather in early October when I hope to be back in Bavaria.

There was still snow lying on North facing slopes in the area down to 1700m, and several small fields on the Alpspitze Nordwandsteig at 2000 - 2150m that I crossed through on one hike up there.

Sorry to hear about the bad weather and such Bryan. Still, the view from Wank must have been very nice. My son and I managed to make it up the Alpspitze Ferrata, but it wasn't easy in spots. It was sometimes made more difficult by the sheer number of people also climbing the mountain. At a few places traffic lights would have been appropriate.

We came down the east side and then onto the Nordwandsteig.

Here is a look down the ferrata just above half way:

Nice photo Roddy.

Was that last Saturday when you climbed it?

If so I may have seen you. Even though it was Rest Day for me, I couldn't resist the lovely weather after all the cloud on Friday, and did take a nice hike from Osterfelder, across the Nordwandsteig to the Bernadeinkopf, then on past the Stuibensee and down to Kreuzeck.

Ha! We should have worn summitpost.org signs or something. We started athe Kreuzeck walked to the Osterfelderkopf before the ferrata and then stayed overnight Saturday night at the Kreuzeckhaus, so we definitely crossed paths at some point. Pity.

Next time I'll carry a small summitpost.org flag in my backpack or something.