What do you do in the time between Christmas and New Year? Mostly you spend these days comfortably at home, with your family. For my friend Tobi and me, this is luckily Munich and we don’t distance ourselves one meter further from the mountains! Therefore, we can use the time in between to go to the mountains and do great hikes. However, in the transitional period it is sometimes not so easy to find the right tour – either there is too little snow or there is a danger of avalanches. But you can always rely on one classic: the Jochberg at Walchensee.
We’ve already been to this summit several times, but never in winter. And because in winter the sun rises relatively late (in our case around 08:10) we decided this time to go up at sunrise. The best decision, as it should turn out!!!
Tour data
- Start and end point: Parking lot at Kesselberg
- Duration / walking time: 3 hours
- Trail length: 6 km
- Altitude difference: 715 hm
- Difficulty: easy
- Refreshment stop: Jocheralm (open from the end of May to mid-October until 5 p.m., closed on Mondays)
Tour description
Our alarm clock rang at 05.00 am – I swear: if we hadn’t packed our backpacks the night before, we would have just pressed snooze and just kept sleeping… But luckily we had already prepared everything and were in the car at 05:20 am heading for Walchensee. As you would expect at this time of day, there was nothing going on on the highway – which to be honest wasn’t all that pleasant. But what does one not do everything to stand at the top at sunrise?
To our astonishment we were not the first car at the Kesselberg parking lot. Almost at the same time a few other hikers with the same intention arrived there. When we got out of our car, the cold wind whipped against us and softened our motivation to start in the dark. Now it was time to “grit our teeth”, put on our headlamp and off we went!
What I was really thankful for that morning: my down jacket, my hiking poles and my microspikes. All three pieces of equipment just made the tour much more enjoyable! The jacket protected me from the cold wind, the poles gave me grip on the icy trail – as did the microspikes in the snowy parts of the hike.
The first stage leads through the forest
So our night hike started at 06:30 and we first hiked about 1.5 hours through the (sometimes more, sometimes less) dense forest. Especially in the dark there is really caution required: because it goes partly steeply uphill, at times over some stairs and in winter these are very icy and you really have to watch out where you step. The good thing about starting in the dark is that it gets lighter as the hike goes on. And not only that: the snow-covered peaks seem to glow in the darkness – creating an eerily beautiful atmosphere.
Soon the cold wind and the darkness were only a minor matter and we were looking forward to what lay ahead. Around 07:00 o’clock it became slowly bright and at some places of the hike one could already throw a few views of the Kochelsee, which was illuminated within the following half hour slowly by a pink-colored sky – likewise we the opposite Herzogstand summit. An absolutely dreamlike spectacle! The sky looked like painted.
The Walchensee in warm light – what a beautiful sight
The snow crunched under our shoes while we came closer and closer to the gate, where the forest part of the hike ends and after a few meters following the path you have a magnificent view of the Walchensee! In our case, the sky behind the mountain panorama was warmly lit by the soon rising sun. A beautiful sight! Depending on where you stand on the path, you already have a 360-degree view all the way over to Kochelsee – which was bathed in a soft morning pink.
Reading tip: Ski touring for beginners – equipment and technique for ski touring.
While we were taking photos of this beautiful moment, the sun suddenly rose right in front of us – although we weren’t at the summit yet, we had this moment all to ourselves. It was more than worth it, it was just breathtakingly beautiful!
Of course we continued to the summit, it took us about 15 minutes to reach the top – where we then realized that we had done everything right with our (unplanned) selection of the sunrise place. Because up at the summit cross some people had gathered to see just like us this beautiful sunrise. As I always say so beautifully: everything happens for a reason.
Kilometers of panoramic view on the summit
At the top, we first strengthened ourselves with a delicious homemade Bircher muesli and enjoyed the 360-degree view. From up here you have a view of the Kochelsee, Riegsee, Staffelsee, Starnberger See and even the Ammersee, 45 km away.
To the east you can see the Benediktenwand, further south the mighty peaks of the Karwendel mountains and towards the southwest the Wetterstein mountains (including the Zugspitze). Just like the Herzogstand and the Heimgarten, which are also located at the Walchensee. So you can see some great peaks from up there!
In winter, there is no place to stop for refreshments, as the Jocheralm is only open from the end of May to mid-October. In summer, this is a popular loop to extend the descent a bit more. However, like everyone else, we decided to go back down the same way – with our microsites. These gave us much more grip in the snow and reduced the risk of slipping many times over.
Conclusion
The Jochberg is a really popular tour and therefore I can only recommend hiking up at sunrise or sunset. First, you don’t have to share the summit with so many people and second, it’s simply worth it to be high up on the mountain at this special time!
More impressions from my winter hike on the Jochberg:
