Wendelstein

Elevation: 1838 m
Elevation Gain: 114 m
Located about 70-km south of Munich, Wendelstein is a 1,838-m-tall mountain in the Bavarian Alps. Although the peak offers spectacular views of its German and Austrian surroundings, it is the site of considerable development, including a cog railway, cable car, ski area, restaurant, church and observatory. The peak’s electric cog railway was completed in 1912 and delivers passengers from Brannenburg in the valley bottom to a station 114 vertical meters below its summit. Wendelstein’s first documented ascent was in 1780 and would have been much more involved than modern ascents (which benefit from paths, stairs, railings, tunnels and, of course, a railway and/or cable car).
My Ascents:
May 11 2023
Trailhead: Wendelsteinbahn Brannenburg Station
GPS Track: Wendelstein

With COVID-related restrictions largely a thing of the past around the world, the spring of 2023 saw me being asked to travel for work with, borderline, ridiculous frequency (4 weeks of travel over the course of an 8 week span). Fortunately for me, there are lots of mountains around the world, so having to go somewhere for work sometimes grants me the opportunity to bag a peak outside of my beloved Canadian Rockies.

Having been invited to speak at a conference in Bavaria, I set off on the first of these 2023 business trips, hopeful that I might be able to make a quick side-trip to the nearby alps. To my great surprise, I discovered that my conference registration included one of the following two options:
• A tour of a German lubricant analysis laboratory or…
• A paid ticket up the local cog railway in the Bavarian Alps (which ascends 1217 m to just below the summit of the Wendelstein)!

After “agonizing” over this decision for about a femtosecond, I booked my ticket on the cog railway 😂, astounded that could now (quite legitimately) claim that riding a train and hiking to the top of the Wendelstein was a work-related endeavor! 😝

A photo from my conference presentation in Rosenheim: proof that I do some actual work on these trips (my wife sees my mountain photos and has her doubts 🤔)!

Of course, all work and no play make Matt a dull tribologist and, fortunately, the conference’s organizers placed an emphasis on enjoying local culture and scenery (hence, the option to visit the nearby alps). Not only was a cog railway ticket included as part of the conference, but this Octoberfest evening at a local festhalle was the conference’s official social event. Normally, I hate mingling but I must admit that steins of beer make it more enjoyable! 🍻

I really can’t say enough good things about this conference! Like I said, the organizers put a real emphasis on exposing attendees to local culture and scenery! 🙃

After a late night making friends at the festhalle, I woke (a little bleary eyed) and made my way to the cog railway’s valley-bottom station in Brannenburg. You might expect a crowd when a trip like this is offered for free but it seems that most of the conference-goers elected to sleep off the previous evening instead of getting off to an alpine start! My boss did, however, make it out of his bed (despite getting only 3 – 4 hours sleep 🥱). Who needs sleep when a train is going to do most of the mountain-climbing for you? 😝

Moody, overcast views (befitting of everyone's hungover state) as the train began to ascend through pastoral surroundings.

I think I can, I think I can…

Ascending through the woods, I spotted this cabin alongside a mountain stream. Not a bad place to escape to!

LEFT: Waterfalls cascade alongside the steep train track.
RIGHT: Ascending higher, we traded lush pastures and forest for craggy peaks and cliffs.

As the valley rain turned to snow at higher elevations, the cog railway’s course became more dramatic, passing through steep cliffs and dark tunnels.

1217 m above the Brannenburg Station, the train pulled out of a final tunnel and arrived at its rocky, upper terminus.

LEFT: A sparse handful of conference-goers wander from the subterranean train station, through tunnels towards the, surely, magnificent views that await outside!
RIGHT: The local “greeter” at the tunnel’s end: a sign of the (less than ideal) conditions that awaited us. 😂

This is the view that should have greeted us when we got off the train 😍 (taken in 2019 when I attended the same conference and snuck a quick ride up and down the peak’s cable car just before it closed for the day).

This is the view we got! 🤦‍♂️ Looking beyond the cable car station, there was nothing to be seen (save for the inside of a cloud).

LEFT: Above the train and cable car stations, the final 114 vertical meters of the Wendelstein rose rockily above a host of man-made detritus.
RIGHT: Having long ago rid the Alps of most wildlife, the people here appear to have constructed their own for tourists to gawk at and children to climb on.

LEFT and RIGHT: A cute chapel perched on a rocky outcrop (because why wouldn’t we build a church on a mountain? 🤷).

LEFT: Hiking up beyond the man-made clutter and places of worship, we located the rocky path up to the summit. Back in 1780 when the Wendelstein was first ascended, this must have been quite a climb. Today, a well-graded path, stairs and safety railings guide guests up to the top.
RIGHT: It was probably a good thing that there were railings, however. Some of us were still a little dizzy from the Octoberfest celebrations the night prior! 😵

Up, up… Deeper into the clouds…

LEFT: Passing through a tunnel provided a brief respite from the wet snow and wind.
RIGHT: As the terrain steepened even more, the graded path transitioned to paved stairs.

LEFT: Tackling the final few steps to the Wendelstein’s (surprise, surprise) clutter-ridden summit.
RIGHT: Like many peaks in the Alps, a cross marks the Wendelstein’s high point. On this day, it was just about the only thing to see up here!

Apart from the observatory, that is. Bet the astronomers were really busy today! 🤣🪐

Summit selfie with the boss. Work travel isn’t usually something that people look forward to but it’s nice to work for a company that believes in having some fun along the way.

The extent of the summit view on this day: the stairs we’d just climbed up disappearing into oblivion below.

LEFT: The boss carefully crosses a snowed-over section of path (which may or may not have been closed 😉).
RIGHT: What goes up wet, snowy stairs must go down wet, snowy stairs.

LEFT: Ditto for wet, snowy tunnels.
RIGHT: After a quick but cool trip up and down the Wendelstein, we returned to the upper cog railway station. Normally, I’d have lingered up here a while soaking in the views but, since there were none today, we elected to retreat to the warmer confines of the train!

LEFT: A quick selfie with the train before enjoying our relaxing, 35 minute ride down.
RIGHT: Back at my hotel in Munich, I was happy to find a shoe-drying device after splashing through rain, slush and snow atop the Wendelstein.

LEFT and RIGHT: Enjoying some sights and suds (if you can call a Helles Beer 🍺 that) with freshly dried shoes! Exploring Munich during my trip’s final night proved to be a pleasant end to a productive (in terms of summits bagged 😂) work trip.

Where to next, boss?!