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The Zugspitze is a popular destination - for fully equipped alpinists as well as for inexperienced guests who take the mountain railroad to just below the highest point in Germany.
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Too many tourists take the short but challenging ascent from the Zugspitzbahn to the summit without any equipment or safety equipment under their sandals. There will soon be a second summit cross for them - at the mountain station.
"Don't be surprised anymore!" comments a man on his own video clip. He focuses on a man in Birkenstock sandals climbing up one of the metal ladders that lead to the summit of the Zugspitze (2962 m). Above him, climbers in full gear are securing themselves to the steel cable next to the ladder. "It's really cool how the leaders are on their way," the filmer exclaims.
Germany's highest peak is accessible by cable car. However, many mountaineers spend hours climbing up on foot and on the last few meters of their way, with climbing harness, mountain boots, helmet and everything they need for mountaineering, they meet guests who have floated in by cable car.
The cross is only a few minutes away from the mountain station. An invitation for tourists in casual summer outfits to take a selfie next to the Zugspitze summit cross. The result is scenes like the one in the video.
The short route to the highest point is a via ferrata in precipitous terrain that requires a head for heights and surefootedness.
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As the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" pointedly notes, the Free State of Bavaria finds it difficult to prescribe anything to people - such as safety equipment, helmets or mountain-appropriate footwear on a via ferrata in fall terrain. Guests should decide for themselves how to climb the summit.
According to a spokeswoman for the Zugspitzbahn, this repeatedly leads to dicey situations and mountain rescue missions. People slip down or can't get any further, the railroad representative told Bayerischer Rundfunk. Anyone who has been on vertical rock faces knows that climbing up is easier than descending.
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To reduce the number of dicey situations and mountain emergencies on the Zugspitze, the flip-flop climbers now have their own cross. This stands at 2950 meters above sea level and is therefore only slightly lower than the one at the highest point in Germany. And even more practical: it is located in the mountain station building. It is to be created by Bavarian artist Bernhard Rieger using materials from the DIY store. It will be waiting for its first visitors from July 3.
It is unclear whether visitors who are not equipped for mountain climbing will still be allowed to tackle the via ferrata to the summit. If the conditions are as described in "Süddeutsche", then probably not. Then the second summit cross lives from the hope that tourists will be satisfied with the selfie from the indoor cross.
As a bonus, they can visit an exhibition around it to see how the first summit cross was transported to the Zugspitze in 1851. The cable car has been running to just below the summit since 1930. Incidentally, a replica of the original cross, which was badly weathered and damaged by shots fired by American soldiers after the end of the Second World War, has stood on the summit since 1993.
The original is in the Werdenfels Museum in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Comfortable and safe to reach in sandals.
