The Maximiliansweg on the Benediktenwand is a demanding and dangerous mountain tour.
Terrible accidents happen here all the time.
Benediktbeuern -
Some summit climbs are particularly dangerous because they are underestimated.
The Höfats in the Allgäu is such a mountain that has always had a reputation as a "man-eater".
The "easiest north face guide" on the Benediktenwand, the so-called "Maximiliansweg" (not to be confused with the long-distance hiking trail from Lindau to Berchtesgaden) is such a candidate.
Mountaineers have fallen to their deaths there with horrific regularity (we reported).
It was repeatedly described how dangerous the path is.
There are no official statistics, not even at the mountain rescue service.
Numerous commemorative plaques, some newer, some ancient, pave the ascent.
50 dead on Maximiliansweg should still be a rather conservative estimate.
In the 1980s, this also included the leader of the Wednesday hikers at the Tölzer Alpenverein.
Maximiliansweg: Many commemorative plaques
Recently, the missions on the "Maxe" have increased - probably since an outdoor app brought the path for "normal" mountain hikers into the conversation.
In any case, from mid-July there were three serious incidents within a few days.
The result: one dead, one seriously injured and a helicopter rescue that just got off lightly.
The “Maximiliansweg” winds its way through the grass-interspersed wall indentation between the “summit fall line” (level of difficulty 5+) on the left and the bow-shaped, projecting “rib” (3 to 4) on the right and more difficult.
The ascent was first described in Walter Schmidkunz's climbing guide published in 1910 (two years after the opening of the Tutzinger Hütte).
Schmidkunz rates the route as "difficult and exposed", speaks of "beaten tracks" and commemorative plaques.
In a sketch on the wall, Schmidkunz presents a western way of bypassing the difficult key point, without going into detail in the text.
A depiction of the wall was painted and sold as a postcard by the famous British mountaineer and alpine painter Eduard Theodore Compton (1849 to 1921), who came to Munich as a young man and took on German citizenship: With the eyes of an alpinist, “ET” Compton the decisive key points of the Maximiliansweg were worked out in a topographically true-to-nature way.
Wrong rating in climbing guide
For decades after that, the climbing guide by Helmuth Zebhauser, published by Rother-Verlag, was the standard work.
Zebhauser's rating of the route: "Grade 2 (one spot), mostly 1. Heavily worn, not advised when wet." This rating was perhaps part of the problem, because grade 2 is wrong, which experienced climbers and mountain rescuers agree on: The of countless ascents and from the climber's sweat, smoothly polished, gripless and pushing away key point requires some heavy moves and is at least grade 3. Only good climbers with safety reserves may dare to climb this point freely - i.e. unsecured.
This is especially true in the direction of descent.
It is also possible, if one masters the techniques,
to secure this point as a rope team with the existing bolts or to abseil it down.
"For mountain hikers without the appropriate skills, the position is too difficult and irresponsible," explains Manuel Guglhör, the Benediktbeur mountain rescue service manager.
Maximiliansweg: difficult and exposed
The "Panico" special guide for climbers from 2014 rated the Maximiliansweg with 3- and also called it a "rapid descent", which, however, was "not easy to find".
There is a dangerous temptation inherent in this, which perhaps only remained without consequences because the Panico guide is only used by people who have mastered the craft of mountaineering.
Furthermore, there is also a very useful illustrated description of "roBerge" on the Internet from the same year.
It correctly shows a significantly easier western bypass of the key point through a gully and a descending crossing.
However, on-call manager Manuel Guglhör also advises against this variant, because it has now become quite overgrown with slippers.
(Rainer Bannier)
You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.