The Funtenseetauern is a 2,579 m high border peak between

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

on the northern edge of the Steinernes Meer, one of the nine massifs of the

Berchtesgaden Alps The Berchtesgaden Alps (german: Berchtesgadener Alpen) are a mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps, named after the market town of Berchtesgaden located in the centre. The central part belongs to the Berchtesgadener Land district of sou ...

. The Funtenseetauern rises south of

Berchtesgaden Berchtesgaden () is a municipality in the district Berchtesgadener Land, Bavaria, in southeastern Germany, near the border with Austria, south of Salzburg and southeast of Munich. It lies in the Berchtesgaden Alps, south of Berchtesgaden; th ...

, its broad shoulder towering over the lakes of

Königssee The Königssee is a natural lake in the extreme southeast Berchtesgadener Land district of the German state of Bavaria, near the Austrian border. Most of the lake is within the Berchtesgaden National Park. Description Situated within the Berch ...

and Obersee. To the northwest of the Funtenseetauern and linked to it by a ridge is the Stuhljoch (2,448 m), whose ''Stuhlwand'' rock face drops steeply into the bowl of the

Funtensee Funtensee is a karst lake on the Steinernes Meer plateau in Berchtesgaden National Park, Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the larger of two sinkholes (also referred to as uvala). The area is known for record low temperatures, up to 30 � ...

. The usual approach begins from the Kärlingerhaus and takes 3 hours by foot passing the Stuhlwand ridge and the Stuhljoch (

UIAA The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation, commonly known by its French name Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (UIAA, lit. ''International Union of Alpine Clubs''), was founded in August 1932 in Chamonix, Franc ...

grade I,

sure-footedness Sure-footedness is the ability, especially when hiking or mountain climbing, to negotiate difficult or rough terrain safely. Such situations place demands on a person's coordination and reserves of strength as well as requiring sufficient appreciat ...

and a

head for heights To have a head for heights means that one has no acrophobia, an irrational fear of heights, and is not particularly prone to fear of falling or suffering from vertigo, the spinning sensation that can be triggered, for example, by looking down fro ...

being required). Combining it with a descent through the cirque of ''Ledererkar'' enables the mountain to be crossed. The Funtenseetauern may also be climbed via the Ledererkar itself, via the north ridge from the ''Halsköpfl'', from the Wasseralm, through the ''Unsünnigen Winkel'' or the ''Steinige Grube'' (as well as other unknown and more difficult variations). In winter the Funtenseetauern is a worthwhile

ski tour Ski touring is skiing in the backcountry on unmarked or unpatrolled areas. Touring is typically done off-piste and outside of ski resorts, and may extend over a period of more than one day. It is similar to backcountry skiing but excludes the ...

; the ascent usually being made as part of the Große Reibn multi-day tour. But it is also often climbed by skiers who overnight at the Kärlingerhaus. The name ''Funtenseetauern'' is often wrongly seen as a

plural The plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the ...

and called in German ''die Funtenseetauern'' (''die'' being the plural article as, correctly, used to describe ''die

Hohe Tauern The High Tauern ( pl.; german: Hohe Tauern, it, Alti Tauri) are a mountain range on the main chain of the Central Eastern Alps, comprising the highest peaks east of the Brenner Pass. The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian states of ...

''). File:Stuhljoch-Funtenseetauern.JPG, View from the Stuhljoch to the Funtenseetauern. The normal path from the Kärlingerhaus runs over the arête. File:Funtenseetauern-Gipfel.jpg, The summit of the Funtenseetauern from the southwest.

External links

Ski tour to the Funtenseetauern
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Panorama from the Funtenseetauern at www.alpen-panoramen.de
Mountains of the Alps Berchtesgaden Alps Mountains of Bavaria Mountains of Salzburg (state) Two-thousanders of Austria Berchtesgadener Land Two-thousanders of Germany