Kramerspitz: 1,985 Meters of Beautiful Exhaustion
My lungs are burning. My legs are aching. My feet are sore. The still, silent air is only broken by the sound of our group’s heavy breathing. And though I am suffering physically, I am enthralled to be here. The beauty of the rugged and wild landscape is striking. Under the cold and bright sun, I am climbing the Kramerspitz, one of the peaks in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen region of the German Alps.
On November 18th, 2018, my day started absurdly early. I had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. in order to catch the train to Kramerspitz. It was leaving at 7:13 a.m. from Munich’s Central Train Station. (I could write a whole other story on the misadventure of my arriving there. For now, let’s just say it involved late metros, missed connections and almost missing my train.) During the hour-long train ride there, me and a few fellow classmates who were also participating in the hike discussed our choice of attire and the hike’s difficulty. It was already a cold day in Munich (around 0 degrees) – who knew how cold it would be a couple thousand meters higher. I was personally quite nervous because I did not own a hat and gloves at the time (I know, my planning skills are subpar to say the least). As for the difficulty, I had only ever done easy to medium difficulty hikes. This hike was supposedly hard. My only comfort was the fact that apart from one person, we were all novices so at least I would not be alone in my struggle.
Upon my September arrival in Munich, one of the things I quickly realized is that I must take advantage of Munich’s proximity to nature. In Montreal, where I come from, we have fewer and most noticeably- smaller, parks. I am lucky to live two minutes from the northern part of Munich’s English Gardens. They are expansive and beautiful, and the northern end is much quieter than its counterpart. The gardens provide me with a sense of peace. I often go running in the gardens to let go of my stress and clear my mind. (I also get to see Munich’s numerous adorable and very well-behaved dogs.) In general, this is nature’s role in my life. Whether I go walking in a park, swimming in a lake or hiking up a mountain, I get a break from city life and all its stress. I get to live in the moment, appreciate the beauty of the world and really feel alive.
Munich is also extremely well-connected by train to almost anywhere in Bavaria. Hence, why I decided to take advantage of Bavaria’s seemingly endless hiking opportunities. I had already been to Höllentalklamm, another (easier) hiking path in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen region. Now, it was time to heighten the difficulty.
The Kramerspitz hike ended up being even more difficult than I expected (and I was certainly not expecting it to be easy). Picture this: walking for two hours up the steepest stairs you have ever climbed and THEN basically climbing up quasi-vertical rocks for a couple more hours. I was a sweaty, exhausted mess. The positive thing is that with all this strenuous effort, I did not end up getting cold. In fact, I even had to strip off a few layers.
The hike also ended up being more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. Once we walked past the low-hanging thick fog, we were stunned by a sweeping view of mountains surrounding us. The bright blue sky contrasted starkly with the jagged grey peaks and the fluffy fog underneath us. We were already taken aback, but as we kept ascending, the views kept improving. At some points, I truly felt like I was in one of the Lord of the Rings movies; walking through imposing mountains on narrow, winding paths. With one wrong step, we would fall to our imminent deaths thousands of meters below.
The landscape here really had nothing to do with what I was used to in Eastern Canada. Whereas here the mountains are steep and rocky, the mountains on the east coast of Canada have softer slopes and more vegetation. These big differences probably have a lot to do with altitude. The Kramerspitz’s elevation is around 1,985 meters and Germany’s highest peak, the Zugspitze, rises 2,962 meters. The highest peaks in Canada’s eastern provinces are 142 m (Prince-Edward-Island), 535 m (Nova Scotia), 693 m (Ontario), 817 m (New Brunswick), 1,651 m (Quebec). As you can see, the east coast’s highest peak by far is Mont-D’Iberville in Quebec and it’s only 1,651 m.
At around 1:30 p.m. we finally made it to the top of Kramerspitz. It felt like I’d accomplished the most amazing thing. I felt proud and relieved. I did not realize then that the descent would take another three hours and that it was at times going to be more difficult than going up. I had already pushed my body to the limit and now I was about to push it some more. We were a lot less talkative on the way down. We were using the little energy we had left to focus on not slipping on the crumbling rocks. At around 4:30 p.m. we made it to the bottom. The sun was setting. The only thing on our minds was the glorious thought of sitting on the train, taking off our shoes and closing our eyes until our arrival in Munich.
Of course, once we arrived in Munich the only thing on our minds was the glorious thought of food and our beds.
I was so tired I could not think. But it felt great. My mind was clear, my day was fulfilling and I was going to sleep so well.