Overview
Kampen ridge in the far distance between Roß- and Buchstein (left) and Hirschberg (right)
As a normal working guy I constantly hope for good weather on weekends. What should I do else?
Often, too often, the weather is sunny, not to say cloudless, during the week, as on this mis-May monday while I write down the text for this new “Mountain”-page during my lunch break. It normally starts to deteriorate on Friday. Rain pours down on Saturday through Sunday. Sunday afternoon, the rain stops and you see the first rays of sun which is back on Monday morning and so on. This April / May it was 5 times in a row like this.
Sometimes you have a slight chance to get some better weather earlier on Sunday, that means, it rains in the morning, then stops after your breakfast, you get nervous about some patches of blue skies, get your things packed at 9.30 a.m. and start to head for … well for those peaks like Kampen, which
Kampen meets all these needs.
It is located between
Lenggries / Isar valley to the west and
Tegernsee valley / Bad Wiessee to the east. You reach the trailheads in an one hour car ride from Munich. There are good railway links, too.
Kampen is a ridge, so there is a traverse possible.
Kampen has four distinct peaks (from north to south):
Not very high. But very good if you start late, want to have a good break at one of the summits, want to include some other peaks and relax on the then sunny terrace of a mountain hut (remember: it will be Sunday evening when doing so) with a good beer at your side and return to your car in time for a decent dinner.
Kampen ridge is located within the Mangfall mountains of the
Bavarian Prealps and is surrounded by equally high and rather frequented summits:
Fockenstein to the north,
Hirschberg to the east,
Roß- and Buchstein to the south and
Seekarkreuz to the southwest. Miraculously enough the Kampen ridge is a sort of forgotten corner among these well known Bavarian peaks. There is only a very narrow and hardly marked trail crossing the summits. And there are information panels, too, saying that the trail is difficult and only for the experienced (due to some rock scramble sections).
The Kampen summits offer good views in all direction. The whole Bavarian Alps, Karwendel and Wetterstein mountains and parts of the glaciated peaks in the far distance are visible on clear days.
Getting There
Main
trailheads are:
You reach
Lenggries
by car
The trailhead / parking area (daily fee) is at the end of
Hohenburgstraße. Leave road B 13 at the main exit to Lenggries, turn on Schützenstraße, Bahnhofstraße and Karwendelstarße by just following the main road through Lenggries center. Follow Karwendelstraße until Hohenburgstraße branches off to your left (outside, south of Lenggries).
by train
The “
BOB – Bayerische Oberlandbahn” does the service between Munich and Lenggries. See the
schedule here
Tegernsee valley and Bad Wiessee as seen from Ochsenkamp summit
You reach
Bad Wiessee
by car
The trailhead is at the end of
Bucherweg which branches off from B 318 at the southern end of Bad Wiesse in western direction.
by train
The “
BOB – Bayerische Oberlandbahn” does the service between Munich and Gmund am Tegernsee. See the
schedule here.
From Gmund to Bad Wiessee there is a regular
bus service of “RVO – Regionalverkehr Oberbayern”, lines 9551, 9557 and 9559 from Gmund to Bad Wiessee, bus stop “Söllbach” at the beginning of Bucherweg, which leads directly to the trailhead. See the
bus schedule here
Routes Overview
Routes Overview:
The routes starting at Lenggries are shorter than those from Bad Wiessee.
As you normally do a
traverse of the Kampen summits, I recommend the Lenggries routes for that.
Lenggries routes
Take the
forest road starting at Hohenburgstraße trailhead in eastern direction (route number
601). Follow that road through
Hirschbach valley up to the col.
A small and scarcely marked trail branches off from the road (signpost and warning sign “route only for experienced hikers”) and climbs up steeply the north slopes of
Ochsenkamp to a col a bit southwest of the summit (trail number
622). Follow the ridge to the summit. Then follow the small trail using the ridge and the upper northwest slopes of Kampen to
Auerkamp summit and to
Spitzkamp. The latter requires some short scrambling moves (all trail number
622).
Descend Spitzkamp on the steep trail with a short scrambling part to the col between Spitzkamp and Brandkamp (or Brandkopf). There is a forest road. Cross the road and follow some foot tracks steeply up into the woods. Leave the track where it starts to traverse
Brandkamp on its right and follow the north ridge to the summit. Descend the west ridge until you reach again a forest road.
at the Hirschbachtal col | Rock spire at the ascent to Ochsenkamp | Auer- and Spitzkamp as seen from Ochsenkamp |
Descents to Lenggries trailhead:
My
recommendation, however, is “
Grasleitensteig” despite of a short nasty part on a new and ugly forest road.
Auer- and Ochsenkamp as seen from the Kampen traverse | Spitzkamp summit | Spitzkamp and Auerkamp as seen from Brandkamp summit |
Bad Wiessee routes
Enter
Söllbachtal on route number
604 (forest road) in western direction starting at the trailhead parking area.
At a
road junction some 5 km into Söllbach valley leave the forest road to your right and follow the road and later the trail number
601 up to
Hirschbachtal col. Go on as described for Lenggries routes.
Southwest of Brandkamp before ascending to Seekarkreuz take the left hand forest road and descend to
Rauhalm (trail number
606). Follow route number
606 down to
Schwarzenbach /
Schwarze Tenn Inn, turn left onto the valley forest road (number
604) and follow the whole Söllbach valley back to Bad Wiessee trailhead (long valley walk).
You can shorten that distance by using a bike and leaving that at the trail junction 604/601 (to Hirschbachtal col).
Brandkamp and Spitzkamp as seen from near Seekarkreuz summit
The Hirschbach valley loop
This is a long and nice route which traverses the “
Seven Summits of Hirschbach valley”.
Start at the
Hohenburgstraße trailhead.
Go up to
Weinberg lake in northern direction. On the east side the trail number
611 to
Geierstein (1491 m) starts and uses the west ridge of the mountain.
Traverse the summit and descend the northeast ridge to a trail junction. Turn right and follow the trail (partly a forest road; marked as “Maximiliansweg” and
611) to the
Fockenstein west ridge and to Fockenstein summit (1564 m).
Descend the south side of Fockenstein (trail number
614) to a forest road, leading to
Hirschbachtal col.
Take the trail up to
Ochsenkamp, do the traverser to
Auerkamp,
Spitzkamp, descend to the col between Spitz- and Brandkamp. Ascend
Brandkamp on the foot tracks in the forest and descend the west ridge off-trail to the col northeast of
Seekarkreuz. Ascend Seekarkreuz and descend the southwest and west ridge to Lenggrieser Hütte.
Best choose “Grasleitensteig” for your descent back to Hohenburgstraße trailhead.
Red Tape & Accommodation
Lenggrieser Hütte
No Red Tape as far as I know.
You find all kinds of accommodation at
Lenggries
Bad Wiessee
Mountain Huts
Lenggrieser Hütte
Schwarzentennalm
Gear & Mountain Condition
Kampen is an easy spring, summer and autumn
hike. Nevertheless the traverse requires some rock scramble on a steep and exposed route. The traverse itself is mainly on a narrow and nearly unmarked trail. Kampen is not a relaxed afternoon walk.
You need normal hiking gear and good shoes. As the altitude difference is not too demanding (Lenggries trailhead at about 720 m, Auerkamp summit at 1607 m) the whole traverse is not a too long and exhausting outing. The whole Hirschbach valley loop, however, is a long day with 1600 m to 1700 m of altitude difference.
Kampen ridge as seen from Hirschberg ascent | Kampen ridge as seen from Blauberge |
As the Ochsenkamp ascent from Hirschbachtal col and parts of the traverse is located on the north and northwest side of the mountain you may hit snowfields in spring as an extra obstacle. Route finding can be a problem then.
Current Weather:
Maps & Guide Books
Primula auricula at the Spitzkamp summit
Mangfallgebirge, Tegernsee, Schliersee, Rosenheim, Holzkirchen;
number UK 50-53, scale 1 : 50.000, with UTM grid; Bayerisches Landesvermessungsamt, München
Tegernsee, Schliersee, Mangfallgebirge;
number WK D6, scale 1 : 50.000, with UTM grid,
Freytag & Berndt
Alpenvereinskarte Mangfallgebirge West, Tegernsee, Hirschberg;
number BY13, scale 1 : 25.000, with UTM grid, Deutscher Alpenverein, 2009