The Marchspitze () is a prominent summit, made of

main dolomite Main Dolomite (, , ) is a lithostratigraphic unit in the Alps of Europe. Formation was defined by K.W. Gümbel in 1857. Middle to Late Triassic sedimentary record in the Alpine realm is characterized by presence of various masses of dolomitic r ...

, in the

Hornbach chain The Hornbach chain () is a string of mountains, about 15 kilometres long, in the Allgäu Alps in the Austrian state of Tyrol (Bundesland), Tyrol. Geography The Hornbach chain branches at the Öfnerspitze from the main line of the Allgäu ...

of the

Allgäu Alps The Allgäu Alps () are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps, located on the Austria–Germany border, which covers parts of the Germany, German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg and the Austrian states of Tyrol (state), Tyrol an ...

. It is located 1.5 kilometres east of the much better known

Großer Krottenkopf The Großer Krottenkopf is the highest mountain in the Allgäu Alps of Austria. It is Bundesamt für Eich- und Vermessungswesen Austria: Austrian Map online (Austrian 1:50,000 map series)''. and is part of a side branch of the Hornbach chain, wh ...

and is entirely on

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n soil.

Ascent

It is a challenging climb and therefore receives only a modest number of visitors. The

normal route A normal route or normal way (; ) is the most frequently used climbing route for ascending and descending a given mountain peak; it is usually the easiest and often the most straightforward route. Other generic names include the ''Tourism, tourist ...

starts in the middle of the Hermannskar

cirque A (; from the Latin word ) is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by Glacier#Erosion, glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from , meaning a pot or cauldron) and ; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform a ...

, where climbers leave the path linking the Kemptner Hut and the Hermann von Barth Hut and painstakingly and, in places, tracklessly make their way up a steep rubble slope to the Spiehlerscharte (2,395 m) notch. At the col the route switches to the north side of the mountain and approaches it up a prominent gully, through which the western

arête An arête ( ; ) is a narrow ridge of rock that separates two valleys. It is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys. Arêtes can also form when two glacial cirques erode headwards towards one another, although frequ ...

is reached after another gully (

UIAA grade Many climbing routes have grades for the technical difficulty, and in some cases for the risks, of the route. The first ascensionist can suggest a grade but it will be amended for the ''consensus view'' of subsequent ascents. While many cou ...

II). The route continues along and below the knife-edge,

exposed Expose, exposé, or exposed may refer to: News sources * Exposé (journalism), a form of investigative journalism * '' The Exposé'', a British conspiracist website * '' Exeposé'', a student-run newspaper of the University of Exeter Film and TV ...

in places and with several grade I climbing sections, to the summit. The route is marked occasionally with

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

s. The journey time from the Hermann von Barth Hut is three hours. A more difficult route (up to grade II) runs up the southern arête to the top. The circular route is popular; ascending up the southern arête and descending down the normal route.

Literature

*Thaddäus Steiner: ''Allgäuer Bergnamen'', Lindenberg, Kunstverlag Josef Fink, 2007, *Dieter Seibert: ''Allgäuer Alpen Alpin'', Alpine Club Guide. Munich, Bergverlag Rudolf Rother, 2004. *

Alpine Club map Alpine Club maps (, often abbreviated to ''AV-Karten'' i.e. AV maps) are especially detailed maps for summer and winter mountain climbers, hikers, and ski tourers. They are predominantly published at a scale of 1:25.000, although some sheets have ...

1:25,000 series, Sheet 2/1, ''Allgäuer- Lechtaler Alpen, West''

External links

{{Commons category
Tour report
Two-thousanders of Austria Mountains of the Alps Mountains of Tyrol (federal state) Allgäu Alps