Chiemgau Alps: Staufen ridge hike - Nov 20

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The Zwiesel-Hochstaufen ridge is visible when driving from Salzburg to Munich from the highway. It is imposant long ridge through a couple of peaks. I wanted to sleep over at the Reichenhaller Haus this year but due to the restriction it is not possible currently. We decided to complete the hike just in one day.

Our day started at 7 am at Adlgaß parking lot. It was almost empty at this time. The hike starts with traversing below Gamsknogel to reach Kohleralm. Berchtesgadener Alps are in front of us. However, all the valleys around are covered by fog. What a contrast! We continued from Kohleralm to Gamsknogel and we reached its peak shortly after, 2 hours from our hike start. While we are having a break, we are looking ahead at the ridge and guessing where the hiking trail leads.

From this moment, we are on the ridge trail through multiple peaks. There are very few fixed ropes. The second main peak of the day is Zwiesel. Hochstaufen is visible from here in its beauty. The next in line is Zennonkopf, reachable within a couple of minutes. From Zennonkopf, there are good views back to the ridge we already did and the one that follows to Hochstaufen. Roßkarscharte is an interesting section as there is a scrambling part with some fixed ropes.

We took a short break at Mittelstaufen. There are paragliders with us here, they are waiting for good conditions here as well. There are much more hikers as the trail from Bad Reichentall connects right below Mittelstaufen. Our steps continued to Hochstaufen, we were greeting too many people. There were about 30 hikers at the top of Hochstaufen resting. Resting at the top did not make much sense so we rather descended dozens of meters down to avoid the crowds.

The descent back to Adlgaß goes through rocky terrain, we were losing meters very quickly. Once we reached the forest, the trail became wider and it was just about to return back to the parking lot. We managed to return while there was still light. The parking lot was completely full compared to the morning when we started.