Alpine crossing from Kochelsee to Lake Garda on the Jörg Seibel route "JSR"

Update 01 from 08/04/2023:
GPS track changed according to the actual walked tour from July 1-26, 2023, and the stage kilometers and elevation meters added.
Further detailed updates will follow soon.

Update 02 from 08/05/2023:
Pictures added

Update 03 from 08/24/2023
Detailed info on the stages added and the tour report included

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Start at Kochelsee (600m)

1. Berggasthaus Herzogstand (1575m)
1565m / 22km

2. Weilheimer Hut (1946m)
1350hm / 21km

3. Grainau (760m)
870hm / 28km

4. Wiener Neustädter Hut (2213m)
1650hm / 16km

5. Coburger Hut (1917m)
1500hm / 21km

6. Stams (670m)
550hm / 17km

7. Bielefelder Hut (2112m)
1850hm / 17km

8. Schweinfurter Hut (2034m)
1300hm / 19km

9. Amberger Hut (2135m)
1340hm / 20km

10. Hildesheimer Hut (2899m)
1400hm / 17km

11. Guesthouse Hochfirst (approx. 1800m)
700hm / 15km

12. Pfelders (1628m)
750hm / 21km     

13. Hochganghaus (1839m)
1380hm / 19km

14. Naturns/Patleidhof (1386m)
680hm / 17km

15. Tarsch (850m)
760hm / 20km

16. St. Gertraud in Ultental (1519m)
1470hm / 18km

17. Haselgruber Hut (2425m)
970hm / 8km

18. Malé (738m)
860hm / 25km

19. Rifugio Peller (1990m)
1320hm / 11km

20. Rifugio Graffer (2261m)
1470hm / 21km

21. Rifugio Tosa Pedrotti (2491m)
1120hm / 15km

22. Rifugio Cacciatore (1820m)
380hm / 10km

23. Bleggio Balbido Rango (800m)
1120hm / 26km

24. Rifugio Nino Pernici (1600m)
1730hm / 18km

25. Lake Ledro (655m)
250hm / 11km

26. Torbole/Lake Garda (70m)
940hm / 30km

This stage division corresponds to our first hike from July 1 to 26, 2023.

Since some daily stages were very long and strenuous, additional overnight stays and thus extra stages can of course be planned.

Possible intermediate overnight stays:

5th stage: Knorr Hut

10th stage: Dresden Hut

11th stage: Siegerland Hut

20th stage: Lake Tovel (descent from the described route necessary!)

30th stage: Pregasina

Additionally, overnight options can be varied. Possible overnight variants:

Walchensee / Garmisch-Partenkirchen / Eibsee / Zugspitze (Munich House) / Mieming / Ochsengarten / Kühtai / Winnebachsee Hut / Gries / Rabenstein or Moos in Passeier / Oberkaseralm (Spronser Lakes) / Nasereit Shelter / Pirchhof / Linthof / Naturns / Kastelbell / Rifugio Tuckett / Rifugio Agostini / Stenico

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Information on individual sections:

On the 5th stage the Zugspitze is climbed from the Wiener Neustädter Hut via the Stopselzieher via ferrata. Since it has a moderate difficulty A/B, we deliberately omitted a via ferrata set for weight reasons. Ultimately, everyone must decide that for themselves.

The 8th stage leads from the Bielefelder Hut via Kühtai and Finstertaler notch to the Schweinfurter Hut. Originally, however, the Wilhelm Oltrogge high trail was planned, which we unfortunately could not take due to a trail closure due to heavy snow. Although the described variant was also very nice, I would definitely recommend the Wilhelm Oltrogge trail if it is open and passable.

Outdooractive shows a trail closure on this 8th stage in the area of Längental near Kühtai. However, the Längental is not crossed with this route, only touched on the edge of the Längental reservoir. There is therefore no problem caused by the indicated trail closure!

The 10th stage leads from the Amberger Hut first via the Hinterer Daunkopf to the Stubai side and from there over the Schaufelferner and Gaiskarferner to the Hildesheimer Hut. The ascent over the Schaufelferner has not been marked with poles for some time. But you can easily ascend in a lift or piste bulldozer track or along other footprints, as the glacier is almost free of crevasses. From the Jochdohle it goes down slightly along the Gaiskarferner via a glacier path marked with poles to the Hildesheimer Hut. Both glacier crossings are not difficult, but of course caution is still advised!

The 12th stage was originally supposed to lead from the Hochfirst guesthouse over the Grubjoch and Rauhjoch to Pfelders. Due to very bad weather, however, we had to choose the variant through the valley via Moos in Passeier. I also recommend this valley variant to possible followers, as it is not only very beautiful but also offers different perspectives after a few days in the high mountains and also allows for shopping, withdrawing cash, etc. in Moos.

The 16th stage from Tarsch over the Hasenöhrl to St. Gertraud in Ultental is tough! That is why I recommend taking the bus and the chairlift to the Tarscher Alm from Tarsch. You won't miss much there and save a lot of energy for the Hasenöhrl crossing, which with 1470 elevation meters and 18 kilometers from the Tarscher Alm is still very strenuous.

The Dolomites path 10 in the northern Brenta on the 20th stage from Rifugio Peller to Rifugio Graffer is partially very poorly marked. Here (and for the whole tour) I definitely recommend a GPS device. Also, on this stage there is again a via ferrata with A/B difficulty, where the same applies regarding via ferrata sets as for the Stopselzieher via ferrata on the Zugspitze.

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Below is a small tour report in the form of a newspaper ad:

Alpine crossing from Kochelsee to Lake Garda on foot in 26 days!

Jörg Seibel and Marita Lamm hiked their own route across the Alps!

From July 1 to 26, 2023, Jörg Seibel and Marita Lamm accomplished the first crossing of their own Alpine route from Kochel am See to Torbole at Lake Garda with 480 kilometers and 29,275 elevation meters, which corresponds to an average of 1,120 elevation meters and 18 kilometers per day. After the two had hiked the Munich-Venice Dream Path on the Ludwig Grassler route on foot in one piece in 30 days in 2021, Jörg Seibel got the idea to develop his own route across the Alps and to publish it afterward in different ways. The goal of this new Alpine crossing route was Lake Garda, and the starting point was chosen as Kochelsee on the edge of the Bavarian Alps because this resulted in a relatively direct north-south route with many highlights. After two years of planning, the tour was finished in theory, and the first crossing started in July 2023. To avoid problems finding accommodation along the way, the 26 overnight stays in mountain huts, guesthouses, and hotels were booked in advance, which also meant that the daily targets had to be reached, posing a great physical and mental challenge.

With a 10kg backpack each containing everything needed for 26 days, the two first took the train to the tour's start point at Kochel am See and set off on the big tour the next day. The following 26 days of hiking were so full of experiences that the two hikers took several days after the tour to process the impressions.

It started with the ridge crossing from Heimgarten to Herzogstand and the breathtaking views of Kochelsee and Walchensee. Then the Krottenkopf, the first two-thousander of the tour, was climbed and descended over the summit of Wank to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

From Grainau, the crossing of Germany's highest mountain, the Zugspitze at 2962m, followed via Eibsee, up the Stopselzieher via ferrata to the summit, and descending over the Zugspitzplatt to Tyrol. "For weight reasons, we deliberately omitted our via ferrata set and thus chose the Stopselzieher via ferrata as the ascent, which we were able to safely manage due to the moderate difficulty," said Jörg Seibel.

After the Zugspitze and the Mieming Mountains, the Inn was crossed on a suspension bridge at Stams, followed by the day from Stams to the Bielefelder Hut with the elevation record of 1850 hm. Then, several days followed through the Stubai and Ötztal Alps, exclusively in the high alpine area. The 3225m high Hinterer Daunkopf awaited with some climbing passages and still large snowfields for July, and the following Hildesheimer Hut at 2899m was the highest sleeping place.

Above the Siegerland Hut, the two Alpine crosser entered South Tyrol on the Windach Saddle (2844m), and at the large Timmler Black Lake below, the crystal-clear cold water invited a short refreshing swim. The stage from the Hochfirst guesthouse on the Timmelsjoch road to Pfelders had to be changed to a variant through the Passeier Valley due to very bad weather, which proved to be advantageous because, after some days in the high mountains, the two could really enjoy the valley landscapes and had the opportunity to replenish cash, as the payment in the mountain huts was mostly in cash.

South Tyrol proved to offer a beautiful and varied landscape on the following daily stages, e.g., through the Spronser Lakes, on the great Merano High Path, climbing to Reinhold Messner's Castle Juval, or on the Tscharser irrigation channel path. Remarkable was also the impressive flora on the lush mountain slopes. Not only here in South Tyrol but on all stages of the tour, there were stunning flowers to admire, such as edelweiss, Turk's cap lily, mountain lily, gentian, arnica, wild geranium, huge alpine rose areas, and many more, among which the two hikers daily chose the "flower of the day" photographically.

The crossing from Vinschgau to Ultental went over the highest point of the entire tour, the Hasenöhrl at 3257m. "This eastern three-thousander of the Ortler group was long in our minds as the highest hurdle of the tour. As before at the Hinterer Daunkopf in the Stubai Alps, there was long and steep climbing over heavily blocky rock ridges. The scrambling was very appealing, but our heavy backpacks reduced the fun a bit," notes Marita Lamm in retrospect. After Ultental, the two crossed the border from South Tyrol to Trentino at the Rabbijoch near the Haselgruber Hut.

From Malé in Val di Sole, the path led steeply upwards into the Brenta Dolomites. At the entrance to the hiking trails into Brenta, signs with behavior rules point to a possible encounter with one of the about 70 living brown bears there. "Fortunately, we did not meet a bear but heard one clearly once. When hiking in the dark forest, one is often thinking about the brown bears," recalls Jörg Seibel. In the following days, the Brenta group showed itself in all its beauty in terms of vegetation and ruggedness. But also the weather showed its teeth in the form of thunderstorms. Shortly before Rifugio Tosa Pedrotti, the two were surprised by a severe thunderstorm with hail and heavy rain, which later required shaking the water out of the shoes at the hut.

After Brenta, the Sarca River was crossed, followed by the last part of the Alpine crossing with the quaint villages near Stenico and the Lake Garda mountains. The long ridge crossing of Monte Tofino became a nerve-wracking experience due to the current weather. A bad weather zone with many storms and thunderstorms passed over northern Italy, and alone on the stage through the Val Marcia over Tofino to Rifugio Nino Pernici, the two Alpine crosser sought shelter from storms four times, twice in the forest, once in a bivouac, and once at a small rock wall. The following penultimate day was somewhat calmer in terms of weather and hiking and already led early in the afternoon to accommodation at Lake Ledro, thus leaving plenty of time to relax and swim.

The last day before arrival at the northern shore of Lake Garda was to become an absolute highlight with crossings over Passo Nota, Passo Rocchetta, and Monte Palaer. In the best weather, the view extended over the entire Lake Garda to the southern shore. This final stage was with 30km the longest stage of the whole tour, and thus Jörg Seibel and Marita Lamm reached the northern shore of Lake Garda with Riva and Torbole exhausted but also very happy on the last evening.

Of course, they deserved to end this tour at Lake Garda with a few quiet and relaxing days.

The special and unforgettable impressions of this Alpine crossing occupied the two hikers for many days after the tour. In the closing words from tour planner Jörg Seibel: "If it was very exhausting on the tour at times, if the weather was bad, if we only reached our accommodation late in the evening, or if the trail was hard to find, I often thought that I would never plan or do such a tour again. But when I recall all the beauty of this tour in memories, in the form of stories or through the many photos we took, things look quite different again, and new ideas already arise."

"Fortunately," said Marita, who after the tour's exertion is keen to join again because it is an indescribable experience to keep going steadily to reach a beautiful goal in the end. That is also the answer to the question: Why don't you do a 'nice' vacation sometimes?