The storm of the weekend caused damage on the way to the Höllentalanger hut. The repair work is ongoing, the hiking trails are closed. This must be strictly observed. There is an acute risk of stones and therefore life.
Update Tuesday, 6.30 p.m .: The Höllentalklamm remains closed for the time being and does not open on Saturday. This was announced by Thomas Gesell from the DAV section Munich on Monday. However, the damage caused by the storm is greater than can be seen at first glance. "It is currently not foreseeable when we will open the gorge," says Bernhard Ostler from the Alpine Club Section Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Some of the bars of the railings were bent, some of them are missing entirely. There is also a lot of gravel on the paths. Roots have to be removed. Those responsible also want to check the geology first - for example whether stones have loosened on rock sections - before making a decision. “We don't break anything over the knee,” emphasizes Klamm's Ostler. An inspection is planned for Friday or Saturday.
First registration:
Grainau - Silvia Auer drives from Pitztal to Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Saturday evening. She wants to visit her husband. Help him at the Höllentalangerhütte, which they have been operating since May 2010. Husband Thomas is already waiting for her, goes to meet her. He starts walking in the rain around 10 p.m. His wife is out. They will not meet that evening. The Hammersbach washed away three bridges on the way to the hut. Thomas Auer doesn't come down. Silvia Auer not up. She turns and drives home again. "Then I had to sleep alone again," says the host and laughs.
He sits relaxed in the hut. The 61 guests left, evacuated on Sunday afternoon, when it was clear that they would no longer be able to walk into the valley. Not over the gorge, not over the Hupfleitenjoch over to the Kreuzeck. "Can you forget," says Auer. A helper looked at the path on Sunday morning. Too dangerous. A mountain guide confirmed the impression. He had gone, had to secure his guests on a rope on a path that hikers normally mastered without problems.
Evacuation of guests for mountain rescue spokesmen the right decision
How long would the paths remain impassable? How long do the rain clouds hang over the valley? Neither could give a reliable forecast. So it was decided to fly out the guests. The right way, says Johannes Zollnerv of the mountain rescue section Hochland a day later. "It was agreed that they belong down from the mountain."
Thomas Gesell, hut manager of the DAV section Munich, got an idea of the situation on Monday. What he saw after leaving the gorge shocked him. "The landscape up there has changed." The locally very severe storm left massive traces. Nobody had expected such a scale.
Observe closures of the hiking trails: acute danger to stone and life
The Grainau company Dörfler started with the first clean-up and repair work on Sunday and introduced two makeshift bridges so that the hut can be reached again as quickly as possible. The men did a “great job”, Gesell says. Much remains to be done. Therefore, the gorge and the Hupfleitenjoch remain closed until Friday.
Not to walk the path is not a nice request, Gesell emphasizes. Due to the work there is a massive risk of stone and therefore life. The gorge is open from Saturday - the damage is limited - and the yoke is open again. But not the Stangensteig. Gesell expects at least four weeks until the path - which is partly missing completely - is restored. The sections Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen will probably have to invest a "high five-figure amount" all in all.
Until Saturday, landlord Thomas Auer still has to wait for guests and his wife. He takes it easy. He can deal with natural forces, he says.
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