Loop over Montscheinspitze (2106m)

Technical difficulty: 8/10
Fitness: 4/10
Objective danger: 7/10 (the downhill along the ridge has a lot of sketchy sections with loose rock)
Landscape: 7/10
Busy: 2/10

A mostly easy loop with a very technical summit ridge with scrambling up to grade II UIAA. Amazing views over Karwendel all around.

Starting point: Gernalm
Ending point: Gernalm
Length: 14km
Vertical: 1300m
Speed: Forest road up and down, with really technical ridge in the middle.

Route:

We will start running from the parking lot at Gernalm, accessible via a toll road from Pertisau at Achensee (7Eur at the time of this writing).

From the parking lot, we start by following the road back downhill for a while. After a little over 1km, a forest road turns north and starts climbing steeply uphill towards the Schleimsattel. Shortly after reaching the saddle, a trail leaves the forest road westwards and winds gently uphill through alpine meadows towards the east ridge of Montscheinspitze.

Once approaching the ridge itself, the running gets a lot more interesting (and technical). Continue steeply uphill through short scrambling sections and a lot of loose rock. Eventually, we will reach the summit cross of the Montscheinspitze (2106m) itself.

The descent trail leads directly south of the summit. It is very technical, we a ton of exposure and loose sketchy gravel sections. There are also a few sections requiring down-climbing, including a ~30m chimney up to II UIAA grade.

After reaching the lowest point, we go up again for a little bit until the next summit cross at Plumsjoch. From here, the trail turns less technical and runs downhill through the alpine meadows towards Plumsjochhütte. This is a great spot to grab a drink. All that’s left afterwards is a very steep forest road leading for a few kilometers back to the parking lot.

Photos by @the.running.nomad and @bennibru