Sonntagsspitze or Zunterspitze

Overview

Sonntagsspitze, also called Zunterspitze, is the northernmost bump and the northern end point of the long ridge, which runs south to Schreckenspitze, Hohe Gans and ends at Juchtenkopf above Karwendel Gerntal valley. Being part of the beautiful and easy Pre-Karwendel ranges and located near the tourist hotspot of Achenkirch, Sonntagspitze receives astonishing few visits.

Sonntagsspitze rises high above Gröbner Hals col to the north, which separates our summit from Rether Kopf to the north. To the south stands Schreckenspitze, linked with our summit by a easy but beautiful meadow and rock ridge. The traverse to this neighbour is a must when visiting Sonntagsspitze.

East of Sonntagsspitze is Achensee valley, west of it is the long and remote Bächental, starting at Fall / Sylvenstein lake and ending at Schleimssattel.

Sonntagsspitze is mainly a hiker summit. However, Gröbner Hals col can be done as ski tour, too, starting at Achenkirch. As the lower part of the ridge to Sonntagsspitze is a meadow ridge, you may climb this ridge part with skies and, depending on the snow conditions, reach the summit by foot. Be aware that the upper ridge needy some UIAA grade I moves!

Getting There

Trailheads for Schreckenspitze are:

• Achenkirch, hiker parking area “Seealm”
• Fall / Sylvenstein lake for bike and hike, hiker parking area Fall

Both trailhead parking areas require a day fee.

Approach to Achenkirch by car:

• From Munich area use highway A8 to exit “Holzkirchen” and road number B318 to Tegernsee/Rottach-Egern and B307 to the Achensee border. Proceed on Austrian road number 181 to the exit "Achenkirch" and follow the signposts to “Christlum Hochalmlifte” cablecar. The Seealm hiker parking area is 200 m northwest of the cablecar valley station.
• From Rosenheim / Kustein / Innsbruck / Landeck region go on Austrian highway A12 (toll road) to exit “Wiesing”. Take road number 181 up to Maurach and proceed along the beautiful Achensee lake to exit “Achenkirch”. Follow the signposts to “Christlum Hochalmlifte” cablecar. The Seealm hiker parking area is 200 m northwest of the cablecar valley station.

Public transportation to Achenkirch:

• Next Austrian railroad station is Jenbach. Take bus number 4080 to Achenkirch Christlumlifte busstop.
• Next German railroad station is Tegernsee. Take bus number 9550 from there to Achenkirch Christlumlifte busstop.

Approach to Fall by car:

• From Munich area use highway A8 to exit “Holzkirchen” and road number B318 to the village of Holzkirchen. Go on road number B13 to Bad Tölz, Lenggries and proceed to Fall.

Public transportation to Fall:

• Next railroad station is Lenggries. Take bus number 9569 from there to Fall busstop.

Routes Overview

Sonntagsspitze / Zunterspitze topo

Sonntagsspitze / Zunterspitze routes overview

Trailhead Achenkirch, hiker parking area “Seealm”

• Follow the Unteraubach forest road up to Hochstegenalm and Gröbner Alm and take the trail to Gröbner Hals col.
• Turn left and follow the steep and in parts secured trail up to Sonntagsspitze.
• Descent as ascent.
• Alternative descent 1: From the summit follow off-trail the ridge to Schreckenspitze and further on until south of point 1972 m. Leave the ridge off-trail in eastern direction and descend to Bergalm hut. Take the trail down Schreckenbach valley until you reach the Unteraubach forest road to the hiker parking area
• Alternative descent 2: climb Christlum Kopf shortly above Bergalm hut and descent the forest roads to Christlum cable car parking area and to the nearby hiker parking area.

Traverse route

• Follow the ridge from the summit in southern direction to Schreckenspitze and go on until you reach the summit of Hohe Gans and Rote Wand. This is in part bushwacking within dwarf pines. I did that once many years ago and I had to descend several times on the west side of the ridge to avoid dense dwarf pine zones and regain the ridge through steep meadow and rock chutes. Nothing difficult but exhausting.
• Navigate on its west side around the steep red rock face south of Rote Wand and descend off-trail from the col between Rote Wand and Juchtenkopf eastwards to Pasillalm huts.
• Follow the forest road down to Achenkirch / Scholastika.
• From there it’s a 2 km walk on valley roads back to the Seealm parking area. Long and epic day.

Trailhead Fall / Sylvenstein lake

• Bike along the forest road starting at Fall parking area into Bächental valley, passing by Forsthaus Aquila (closed) until you reach Tiefenbachalm Niederleger huts.
• Take there the left-hand forest road and bike or hike to Tiefenbachalm Hochleger and the old mining area of oil shales.
• A trail leads you up to Gröbner Hals col. Turn right there and ascend the steep and in parts secured trail to Sonntagsspitze.

Red Tape & Accommodation

Red Tape

Schreckenspitze is part of the Naturpark Karwendel, a huge protected national park.

There is no entrance fee for the park but many regulations to follow.

Please respect the following rules of the National Park:

Accommodation

All sort of accomodation can be found at

Achenkirch

Fall

Mountain huts

None

Gear & Mountain Condition

Sonntagsspitze / Zunterspitze is a spring, summer and autumn hike as long as there is not much snow.

The marked trails are in some parts steep, a bit exposed and below the summit secured with some steel cables (some UIAA grade I moves). There are no difficulties for an experienced hiker with good shoes and normal hiking gear.

The full traverse to the south (Schreckenspitze, Hohe Gans, Rote Wand) or the descent via the east slopes south of Schreckenspitze are off-trail undertakings which require sure footedness. The traverse can be an epic undertaking especially on hot days.

No ski tour routes to the summit as far as I know. Gröbner Hals col is done as a ski tour coming from Achenkirch.

Weather condition

Valley weather Achenkirch

Mountain weather Schreckenspitze

Maps

For those who are physical map addiced there are three good maps needed to cover the whole area:

Alpenvereinskarte, scale 1 : 25000

map number 5/3, "Karwendelgebirge Östliches Blatt"

with trails and UTM grid

Alpenvereinskarte Bayerische Alpen, scale 1 : 25000

map number BY12, "Karwendelgebirge Nord, Schafreiter"

with trails, ski routes and UTM grid

Alpenvereinskarte Bayerische Alpen, scale 1 : 25000

map number BY14, "Mangfallgebirge Süd, Guffert, Unnütz, Juifen"

with trails, ski routes and UTM grid