I have a question for you European experts...

I am currently on a buisness trip to Berlin, and I will be there until june 14th. Now seeing that we will have a nice holiday on the 25th-26th of May , I would like to do something in the mountains on that 4 day weekend. Since I dont know very much about the mountains in Europe, I thought I would ask you fellas. I am looking for some fairly easy day hikes in mountains within a 6-7 hour driving range of Berlin, excluding "eastern europe" (Poland, Chech Republic ext...) as defined by the agency that rented me my car.

In terms of experience, I have done some "walk ups" in Colorado, Pikes Peak and Mt Elbert, hiked a bit in the eastern US, and done some adventure races in the winter. I am reasonably equiped, but I dont have an Ice axe, crampons, snow shoes, or much knowledge in how to use them. So do you have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Steve

With your equipment and driving limitations, there's not all that much that would be alpine (plus there'll still be a lot of snow up high)

Closest would be the Harz and the Sächsische Schweiz near Dresden both of which have some very nice hiking with possble views. These are areas with higher rolling hills and bluffs.

http://www.nationalpark-harz.de/

Too bad you can't go to Poland - the Riesengebirge is nice.

I would recommend the same as Moni - Harz, Sächsische Schweiz, Maybe Erzgebirge on the southern border of Thüringen. You also may go a bit further south to Bayerischer Wald, which is in the north-east of Bavaria and can be reached from Berlin by motorways A9 and A93 quite easily. This would be east of Bayreuth, Nürnberg and Regensburg. The town of Cham is central in the area. The highest mountain, Großer Arber reaches 1456m and there is an abundance of hiking trails. However, you might as well drive on a bit until you reach the Alps - but that would be above your time limitations.

Thanks for your suggestions guys,

But I was under the impression that I could get to Innsbrook in about 7 or so hours? Last weekend I was able to drive to Freiburg in Baden Wurtemburg in 7 hours, so shouldnt I be able to get to the North side of the Alps in that time??

So if we were to include the northern part of the Alps are there any possibilities, or is it just to early in the season for someone of my experience?

Thanks

Steve

Berlin - Innsbruck ?

I'd guess 8-9 hours at least ! Never in 7 hours unless you drive super fast ! (<-- by the way stop driving 200km/h in Austria )

But why not stop in the Bavarian Alps ? There surley are some nice mountains.

Poor Climber wrote:So if we were to include the northern part of the Alps are there any possibilities, or is it just to early in the season for someone of my experience?

So, Steve, if you really think you can get there in 7h, have a look at these pages. They should give you an overview and yes - you can do anything up there - hike, scramble, climb, have a beer

Berchtesgarden Alps
Karwendel
Wettersteingebirge
Allgäu Alps

Listed from east, so the last are probably too far for you..

Definately look at the webcams (links provided on the SP pages Gangolf listed). There's a lot of snow up high.

There's a lot of snow up high.

Yeah there is Moni. I think in light of the conditions, I will find something else to do that weekend. Since ( Lots of Snow ) + ( No avy experience ) + Solo = too little safety for me.

Thanks for your help though guys. I guess I will have to try another day, when I know a little bit more about what I am doing.

Steve

In early May, just before it closed for the season, the Bavarian avalanche service reported that a lot of South facing slopes up to 1800m were virtually clear of snow.

By late in May that should mean there will some nice mountain hiking routes in the Vor-Alpen, (Pre-Alps), in the area around Schliersee and Neuhaus where I've had four great hiking trips in the last 18 months.

That's not that far South of Munich.

If you go just make sure you keep away from any deep and steep slope snow that is still lying around: the last reported fatal Bavarian avalanche accident for 2004/2005 was at the end of May 2005. When the avalanche service was closed so no warnings were in place.

You can monitor the snows around Schliersee and up to Spitzingsee from these web cams.

http://www.schliersee.de/webcams.0.html

The ski slope with quite a lot of snow still on it is North facing at about 1400m near the Obere Firstalm. It gives some idea of what other North facing slopes may be like.

The top webcam photo is looking across the Schliersee towards the Brecherspitz, (center), and the Bodenschneid, (right).

Nearer to Berlin are the Harz, "mountains", which should by now be clear of snow. A nice hike is from Ilsenburg, (240m) up to Brocken summit (1142m). Just rolling hills and forests, but probably the least use route to the very busy Brocken summit, (plan to spend just a minute or two there!). Browse my Home page http://www.germanhikes.co.uk/ if you like for when I did that walk, (October 2004), nearly 7 hours, but I am a fat old so and so