UKH

I have booked a trip for the April Bank Holiday in 2022 to hike Zugspitze.  We have bags of hillwalking experience and some scrambling in all weather conditions, however no alpine / technical climbing experience.  I have a few questions I hope some may be able to assist with:

 Will we be able to summit at that time of the year?  We have booked flights now so can’t change dates

If so, which route do you think would be best?

Would you recommend staying in any of the mountain huts (if they are even open at that time of year) or a single, long day hike

Any other tips or things to consider, please feel free to share and thanks in advance as always

Adam

We did it up the Reintal valley rather than the Via Ferrata route up the Höllental due to my partner not being too good with exposure. 6am start got us to the summit at 2pm and back down at around 7pm. I remember passing the Knorrhutte that was a fair way into the hike, that could break up the ascent.

April will still have a lot of snow so I'd be either putting in some training or looking to book huts. We did it at the end of June and just had a small snowfield to cross that didn't need spikes.

However you do it, the routes up there are fantastic, good planning and weather watching will increase your chances of topping out.

A friend asked me about the Hollental route a few years ago and in particular the glacier/snow just before the top via ferrata starts. I'd done it about ten years previously, but my memory was faulty, I didn't think it was much of an issue without ice axe and crampons (probably had walking poles) and thought with climate change it would be even less if a problem. Fortunately his slide during the resulting summer ascent only resulted in cuts a bruises.

I've not done anything on it in April but driven past a few times, perhaps unsurprisingly the rocks have looked both dry and warmish and plastered in snow

On the other side the Knorrhutte was probably on of the most pleasant I've stayed in, a choice of three main courses came as quite a contrast to a rapid descent from the ridge in a thunderstorm. 

The Hollentall route is amazing - the gorge and the Hut lovely, I stayed a night.

The glacier section is short but sheepish and the via ferrata great fun and good exposure. I'd do it again in a flash if the opportunity arose. 

Go for it!

The huts will probably be closed still in April, they generally open up end of May/start of June. 

In April the major limiting factors are going to be current snow conditions on the ground and weather conditions. The glacier is inconsequential save for a very small bergschrund which in April might still be thoroughly snowed in making its negotiation a bit easier. But winter snow and ice might have caused sections of via ferrata to be snowed in or frozen to the rock still. I would definitely prepare for more than the summer via ferrata experience when doing it this early in the season, and treat it more like alpine scrambling or (depending on conditions) even a bit more. 

The upside is that you might just have the whole route to yourself this early

Look at the webcam history, it looks like it's been done:- https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/zugspitze/2019/04/18/1430

Lots of snow up at glacier height in April though https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/meilerhuette/2021/04/04/1440

Plenty of other webcams in the area on that site, info labels and zooming in is useful.

It'll be a monster day!

The Hollentalhutte has recently been rebuilt and looks nice but I've never stayed, only done lunch. Looks like it opens in May but might have a winter option? The problem will be avalanche risk/damage in the gorge I suspect. https://www.alpenverein-muenchen-oberland.de/huetten/alpenvereinshuetten/ho...

Knorrhutte

https://www.alpenverein-muenchen-oberland.de/huetten/alpenvereinshuetten/kn...

When will you be in the area from/to, as I'm going between the 5th and 19thish and could be up for some walking. I've done the Riffelscharte in summer but never tried the Zugspitze itself.

thank you so much for the responses

i think we have settled on the Reintal valley route based on advice and our experience

without prior crampon experience (apart from mini spikes), do you think we are going to be ok on this route mid April?

toerag, we are flying on the 14th from uk, so hoping to summit 15th / 16th, do you want to join us? 

Maybe, let's get in touch nearer the time