I’m in the south of Germany on holiday to visit my girlfriend’s family. We decided to get away for a day and drove down to Oberstdorf in the German alps. My girlfriend had looked up Nebelhorn for a little mountain walking but when I googled it I found the Hindelanger via ferrata. We decided to give that a try, which was a really good choice.

We arrived at about 9:30 in Oberstdorf and needed to rent a harness and via ferrata kit. After spending about 30 minutes in the queue to the gondola we were at the summit (and the start of the route) at about 11:00.

The guidebook said four to five hours and so we weren’t sure if we’d be able to make it all the way. The route follows a ridge line and has a two exits along the way so there’s always the option to shorten the tour to make it back to the gondola in time to get back down. There’s also the option of walking down the ski slopes back to Oberstdorf which we weren’t really up for.

Most of the route seen from the start

One of the latters en route

We did the first part up to the summit with the cross on it in about one hour. We stopped at the summit for a drink and a banana and to enjoy the spectacular views. The scenery is way different from what I’m used to with a mix of green pastures and grey limestone. Right after the first summit is the first exit on the right hand side.

Climbing…

For the most parts, there is very little technical difficulty. I’d guess that almost half the distance is covered on foot on easy paths on the crest of the ridge. For the more technical parts, there are some easy climbing moves, never harder than grade 3 and some exposed traverses. All the difficult parts are protected with a steel wire, but there were some exposed bits that lacked protection and required a bit of care and a good head for heights.

We spend another hour to reach the second exit, and with plenty of time to the last gondola decided to go for the last exit to finish the whole thing.

Me, somewhere in the middle

The last third of the route was the most difficult. It had more technical bits in it and some exposed down-climbing on polished and slippery limestone. Still, the technical difficulty is very low for any climber. There were no strenuous bits on the route as there were plenty of good places to rest and neither the climbing nor the latters were steep.

We needed another one and a half hours to reach the last exit, just before the “Grossen Daumen”, the Big Thumb. We finished the route itself in four hours, including a couple of breaks, and needed another 50 minutes to get back to the gondola. There is also the option to climb up to the “Grossen Daumen” which we didn’t do.

My GF down-climbing near the end of the route

All in all, a nice day and a worthwhile route with awesome scenery. Just remember sun cream and plenty of water to drink.