Himmelschrofen, 1759 m

From the Renksteg car park, 824 m, follow the road towards Spielmannsau for 20 minutes to the golf course, 890 m. Here, pass through a gate and turn right (not marked!) onto a small track along lush meadows to Schlosswies at the edge of the forest. At another gate, turn left (no sign!) onto a narrow forest path entering the woods. The clear path ascends steeply through the forest, passing a few sparse blue and red markings. The path is quite earthy, with the terrain in the first 500 m of altitude gain partly steep and partly sloping. Two exposed sections are secured with a somewhat unhelpful rope. The terrain levels out again at about 1400 m, continuing over a ridge upwards to a saddle at about 1700 m, from which the later descent branches off to the left. Now the ascent becomes steep again, briefly turning slightly rocky (I-), before the summit is reached after about 3 1/2 hours of hiking.

The descent first returns to the saddle described above at about 1700 m. Here, path traces lead right downwards (not marked) through initially steep grass to the avalanche barriers. Descend diagonally right through them, then cross steep grass without a path into a small hollow at about 1600 m. From here, head right over small scree slopes and grass until you soon meet cairns and increasingly distinct tracks. The path crosses a steep section with gentle ups and downs before reaching the ruined Vordere Rindersgundalpe, 1580 m, on flatter ground. The path then steadily loses altitude, crossing the pasture below the Hintere Rindersgundalpe and leading steeply through the forest down into the Trettach Valley. This is reached at point 953 m, about 2 hours descent. On a wide footpath, return in 1 1/4 hours past Christlesee and the golf course to the starting point.