Kienberg crossing

At the parking lot, you first follow the stream of the Steinacher Achen towards Pfronten. After about 900 meters, you turn into Joseweg and walk past the Wolfahrt tavern and follow a short section of Kienbergstraße. 230 meters after the tavern, you turn left and go up the forest road to Kaffee Milchhäusle. You walk around the café to the left and come across an old wooden sign warning of alpine dangers. Following footsteps, it then goes steeply uphill directly after the café via a partially hard-to-recognize, slippery, and exposed forest path up to the Kienberg shoulder. The path is marked in places, but generally, the tour requires a high level of experience and is not suitable for beginners or occasional mountain hikers. With partially steep climbs (>40°) and occasional climbing sections of the first difficulty grade (I UIAA), it goes up to the shoulder, partly also over storm-felled trees. Towards the end of this section, a steel cable makes progress easier. At the Kienberg shoulder, you have a sensational view over Pfronten and the Allgäu.

The path now continues westwards and, with partly steep uphill and downhill sections, traverses the Leh summit (1340 m) and then up to the Krenge summit (1384 m), the 3rd Pfronten mountain. This summit is also crossed, and now the path goes down a saddle via a first still steep but then gradually flattening path. Here the footsteps are sometimes very indistinct, and you have to briefly head northwest in the middle of the descent. However, the saddle cannot be missed. At the saddle, there is a small junction. If you keep left in a southerly direction, the tour could be aborted and descended. If you continue straight ahead westwards, it now goes somewhat easier uphill until just below the Schnalskopf (1456 m). This can be climbed with a short climb of the first grade (I UIAA) but can also be bypassed.

Below the Schnalskopf, the known path (partly exposed and steep with schrofen climbing) finally leads up to the Kienberg main summit (1536 m).

The main summit is crossed, and before a steep descent into the so-called Himmelreich (the mountain saddle between the main summit and Westerkienberg), the ridge line is followed with slight uphill and downhill.

From Himmelreich, you now descend via a somewhat steeper forest road until you finally reach Achtalstraße. Here you follow the hiking and cycling path to Fallmühle, where a short stopover is possible. Afterwards, you simply continue along the Gschönweg to the start and thus the end point of the tour in about 30 – 45 minutes of walking time.