The Tutzing section of the German Alpine Association wants to tackle a major project this year: the renovation and renewal of the hiking trail on the Jochberg near Kochel.
Unfortunately, as Wegwart Max Lantenhammer regrets, the plan to let the public help cannot be implemented.
Tutzing/Kochel
– The Jochberg is a favorite mountain of the people of Munich and has not only been an extremely popular excursion destination since the Corona pandemic.
The Alpine Club estimates that more than 100,000 people climb the 1,565 meter high peak in the Bavarian Prealps every year.
The roads suffer accordingly.
The responsible section of the German Alpine Association (DAV), the Tutzing section, now wants to renovate it.
The project should be carried out with the help and commitment of the public.
But that won't happen now.
Wegwart Max Lantenhammer gives a variety of reasons for this.
The plan was as simple as it was ingenious and would have created a lot of understanding for the maintenance of the hiking trails and nature.
At the beginning of the hiking trail at the Jochberg car park, every hiker takes some material for the path renovation, gravel, iron bars or wood.
Volunteers and the employees of a path construction company from Grainau show them the way and where to put the material.
Saturday, September 17th was planned as the day of action.
The Tutzinger Alpenverein has to cancel it now.
There are the current difficulties with public transport.
"We wanted people to come by train and then use a shuttle bus," says Lantenhammer.
But the train is currently not running due to repair work, public transport users have to switch to rail replacement services or taxis or come via Murnau.
"It can't be that we lure people here with their cars - that's the opposite of what we had in mind, namely to protect nature," says the road warden.
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Max Lantenhammer is warden of the Tutzinger DAV section.
© Bergwacht Kochel
It also turned out how difficult it is to transport gravel in small units that are reasonably plastic-free.
Lantenhammer and his DAV colleague Bernd Ritschel ordered cotton bags and tried out how the gravel was doing in them.
"We filled in the top layer of our gravel pile, the gravel was dry," says the road warden, describing the attempt.
"We sealed the bag and gave it a shake - it made a lot of dust." Another attempt with a bag made of woven plastic didn't go much better.
And even wet gravel did not show the hoped-for result.
"I took the bag in my hand, my hand was wet and dirty afterwards," says Lantenhammer.
"You can't expect anyone to carry something like that in their backpack."
Even the iron parts could not have been transported in a cut condition.
"The trail builder wants poles that are three meters long, which he then cuts to size on site - you can't give them to hikers," Lantenhammer and his colleagues on the DAV board agreed.
That's why they canceled the day of action.
He is "sad and dissatisfied", but it just doesn't work, the road warden states and also admits that the effectiveness of the campaign would not have been so great.
"If 1,000 people each carry two kilograms of gravel, then we have one cubic meter at the top - that's not much, it disappears on the paths."
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Washed out: The path to the Jochberg is in poor condition - the Tutzinger DAV wants to change that.
© DAV Tutzing
The new plan is that the contracted company generates the gravel on the mountain.
"The Jochberg is a gritty mountain," says Lantenhammer.
It is also planned to bring material to the Jocheralm with the tractor.
He emphasizes that the intention is to avoid helicopter flights if possible.
The path renovation on the Jochberg is the first major project of the Kochler.
The costs are expected to be around 120,000 euros.
There are subsidies from the state and the main club, but Lantenhammer says that a lot will stick with the Tutzinger section.
Anyone who would like to make a contribution to the renovation of the paths on the Jochberg despite the canceled day of action can do so with a donation.
The Tutzing section can be reached by email at info@dav-tutzing.de.