Klettersteig – Scrambles in the Northern Limestone Alps – Europe
Guidebook to klettersteig routes (via ferrata) in the Northern Limestone Alps along the Austrian-German border from the Allgauer Alps to Salzburg. Includes the Bavarian pre-Alps, Allgau Alps, Lechtal Alps. Wetterstein. Karwendel, Rofan, Kaisergebirge, Berchtesgaden Alps, Dachstein and Salzkammergut.
Seasons
Mid-June to mid-September, but probably best avoided when snowy high up unless you are appropriately equipped and experienced.Centres
Innsbruck, Garmisch and Füssen in the western part, Kufstein, Salzburg and Berchtesgaden in the east.Difficulty
Treat as mountaineering, sometimes climbing. Klettersteig are broadly equivalent to via ferrata, so you need mountain experience, a good head for heights and the right equipment. A great experience if you have all these.Must See
Amazing routes on big mountains where most climbers wouldn’t go. Dachstein routes and the Zugspitze.Klettersteig – Scrambles in the Northern Limestone Alps
Even before the turn of the century, when the opening up of the Eastern Alps to tourists was completed and the number of mountaineers increased by leaps and bounds, a start was made on reducing the difficulty of specific hard sections of popular climbs by means of wire ropes and iron rungs.
The climbing aids which have been fixed with great effort and skill on difficult, sometimes vertical, and even overhanging rock enable even non-climbers to do routes which formerly were Grades III, IV and V. However two conditions must be fulfilled without qualification: absolute freedom from dizziness, and a certain degree of mountain experience, including not only sure-footedness but also an awareness of alpine dangers.
