A few days ago I was trekking/doing a via Ferrata (or Klettersteigen) in Mittenwald in Bayern, Germany.
The Mittenwalder Klettersteig or Mittenwalder Höhenweg is a nice track with wonderful views and is not technically hard, but if you don’t like heights this is not the best track to start with.
I started by going up the Karwendel Bahn from Mittenwald. The lift takes you from 933 meter over the sea level to 2244 meter in a few minutes and saves you a lot of time and effort. It costs about 20 euros, which is as much as the train ticket back and forth from Munich to Mittenwald.
Well up you can enjoy the view and refreshments from the restaurant at the lift. From here there are many nice walking/via ferrata routes to choose between. I chose route A (see picture) of the Mittenwalder Klettersteig and came back to the lift on route B.
Route A is very beautiful with wonderful views and took me about 2 hours. It is one the best routes I have done but it is mostly a walking route (not klettersteigen) even if there is the security line along most of the route. It has though narrow passages and very steep elevation on the sides of the path, so if you’re not used to that this might not be the best route for you. Technically the route is quite easy.
After route A, I went down to Brunnsteinhütte along route E and then back to the Bergstation (to where I went with the lift) along route B. This was still less of a klettersteigen than route a but it was good exercise with nice views. After a while the clouds ruined the view a bit but I had the opportunity to spot a Chamois, which made a funny sound when it run away from me.
The route from Brunnsteinhütte to Bergstation (route B) took about two hours also. I was at the lift just before the last tour down at 18:00 but I chose to go down the skiing route (route D&I). This route was a quite steep walking route and is possible to be made in under two hours.
From the Bergstation one can also make the Karwendel Klettersteig (route number 274). I noticed it when I had made route A and B and was too tired to even try. The route looked quite hard and I think you need to be a pretty good climber to do that klettersteigen. The routes I did (especially route A) were magnificent and not hard. I recommend them warmly!
Here are a few videos from Youtube of the klettersteigen and a link. These footages are not mine.
http://www.via-ferrata.de/klettersteige/topo/mittenwalder-hoehenweg
