Alpine climbing in the Oberallgäu

The climbing opportunities in Oberallgäu are spread across walls on individual mountains. The approaches in Oberallgäu usually take between 2-3 hours. It almost always makes sense to shorten the approach through the valleys by bike before continuing on foot to the wall. The individual routes with approach and descent are predominantly full-day objectives. Depending on the exposure, the walls often need longer drying time after rainfalls due to the grass and scree passages. The main alpine climbing season in Oberallgäu is in summer and starts from mid-June until mid-September. Usually, one can still climb well on the south and east-facing walls until the end of October. In spring, one often has to expect old snowfields on the way to the wall. A nice goal in spring as a ski tour-climbing combination is the Bschießer with its south ridge. You ascend on the Tannheimer side with touring skis to the start and then climb four beautiful pitches on the snow-free, dry, and warm south ridge. Afterwards, you abseil down the south wall and then ski back to the valley. Very alpine routes are found on the Himmelhorn and Kleiner Wilder. Beautiful, mostly well-secured climbing awaits at the Fuchskarspitze and in the Schneck east wall.

Name, wall height, aspect, difficulty grades

• Lachenspitze, 100 (270) m, N, VII- (KS III)
• Bschießer, 150 m, S, V+ to VI+
• Fuchskarspitze, 80 (200) m, W/E, III+ to VII-
• Wiedemerkopf, 150 m, N+W, VII- to VIII
• Klupperkarturm, 50 m, SE, V-
• Wildengrat, 140 m, N, VI+
• Schneck, 220 m, E, VI+ to VIII
• Kleiner Daumen, 240 m, NE, IV
• Wengenköpfe, 120 (400) m, S/N, V- to VIII+/IX-
• Himmelhorn, 180 (950) m, S /W, VI to XI-/IX
• Kleiner Wilder, 180 m, SW, VI- to VIII
• Southern Höllhorn, 150 m, S, IV+
• Trettachspitze, 130 (400) m, W/N/E, III to VIII-

Those who want to stay down in the valley sometimes and not climb too far can enjoy themselves in one of the many climbing gardens. The most popular climbing gardens include the following:

• Weiher
• Kraftwand
• Kellerwand
• Rottachberg
• New and Old Tiefenbach

There are also some great via ferratas. These include the Hindelanger and Mindelheimer via ferrata, as well as the Salewa via ferrata at Iseler. 

The protection of alpine climbing routes in the Oberallgäu region varies considerably. There are well to very well protected routes on the Fuchskarspitze and the Schneck east face. Camming devices and friends are therefore often not necessary, but in some routes they are certainly advisable or even essential. The harder rope lengths are often well to very well protected, while the easier ones are equipped with fewer bolts, so you should also be prepared for the required difficulty level here. In principle, one should not expect bolt spacing like in Swiss recreational climbing areas, where there is often a bolt after every meter. The protection on the Himmelhorn, in the Wilde Group, and on the Trettachspitze is sometimes very alpine and therefore reserved for experienced climbers only. 

The website of IG Klettern Allgäu provides up-to-date information on closures, restrictions, renovations, parking situations, and current topics around climbing in the Allgäu region.