Bavarian Alps Trail Runs
The alpine mountain range, stretching across countries all the way from Slovenia to France, is Europe’s trail running Mecca. Because I live close by, the first major region I discovered were the Bavarian Alps on its northern perimeter – all trails can be reached in a 1-2 hour drive from Munich. The region covers Germany’s highest peak Zugspitze and trails skirting around popular tourist spots. My routes include some lower altitude foothills, as well as a few remote cross-border excursions into Austria. I especially enjoy longer runs (around 20k) with moderate elevation gain (500-1000m) that can often be found right at the edge of the mountain range, where dozens of lakes formed during the last ice age.
Individual posts below describe the trails illustrated with lots of photographs. For detailed maps including gps data follow the links to my Komoot Collections.
As this blog has just gone live, I will be adding many more trail-run descriptions over the coming weeks.
Nagelfluhkette – Immenstadt
A string of more than a dozen mountain peaks is connected by a fantastic, challenging ridge-line trail and forms the Nagelfluhkette that crosses the heart of the Allgäuer Alpen. My route takes on the first eight mountain tops, aided by a chairlift for the initial ascent, before looping back to the starting point through the…
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Oberammergau, Pürschling, Laubeneck
Stunning vistas across the beautiful, famous village of Oberammergau and the Linder river valley, which is home to world-renowned Linderhof castle, from a sheer endless ridge-line trail are the best features of this route. On the other hand, the trails are highly technical and dangerously exposed in places featuring quite a few steep climbs. For…
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Around the Wank
The Wank is a favored hiking-tourist destination with a peak easily accessible by cable car from Garmisch-Partenkirchen. However, this loop circling around the entire mountain skips the peak and the crowds to follow a remote, moderately technical trail across the mountain’s steep southern slope that is hardly the width of a foot – offering stunning…
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OffPavement Trail Running 