The Riffelwandspitzen are two adjacent mountains in the Wetterstein range in Bavaria. The summit of the Great Riffelwandspitze (german: Große Riffelwandspitze) reaches a height of 2,626 m, the summit of the Little Riffelwandspitze (''Kleine Riffelwandspitze'') 2,543 m.

Situation

The Great and Little Riffelwandspitze are the two most prominent peaks on the short crest of the ''Riffelwandkamm'' that runs from Germany's highest mountain, the Zugspitze, northeast towards the

Waxenstein Waxenstein is a mountain of Bavaria, 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 ...

kamm. Its south faces drop steeply into the ''Höllentalkar'' cirque, its north faces plunge into the ''Riffelriß'' above the lake of

Eibsee Eibsee ("yew lake") is a lake in Bavaria, Germany, 9 km southwest of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and roughly 100 km southwest of Munich. It is above sea-level and its surface area is . It is at the northerly base of the Zugspitze ( above se ...

. A knife-edge ridge runs from the Great Riffelwandspitze in a southwesterly direction to the Zugspitze. The ridge of the ''Riffelwandkamm'' joins the Little Riffelwandspitze to the Waxensteinkamm passing over the Riffeltorkopf. A side ridge runs away to the Eastern Riffelkopf (''Östlichen Riffelkopf''), whose east face plummets vertically into the Höllental valley.

Bases and routes

The most suitable base for an ascent over the south face is the

Höllentalanger Hut The Höllentalanger Hut (1,381 m) is a managed hut owned by the German Alpine Club in the Wetterstein Mountains of Bavaria, in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The hut lies in a narrow defile between the Höllental-Blassen and Waxenstein-Ri ...

(1,381 m). The routes on the northern side are best approached from the ''Eibsee'' or the railway halt of ''Riffelriß'' on the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway. The easiest route to the Little Riffelwandspitze runs from the col of ''Riffelscharte'' and the ''Riffeltorkopf'' up steep ''Schroffen'' and gullies to the top (

climbing grade In rock climbing, mountaineering, and other climbing disciplines, climbers give a grade to a climbing route or boulder problem, intended to describe concisely the difficulty and danger of climbing it. Different types of climbing (such as spo ...

I (UIAA)). The Great Riffelwandspitze was first climbed on 2 August 1866 via the east ridge by F. Resch and C. Sam. They then succeeded in making the first ridge crossing to the Zugspitze. The route is classified as grade IV- and has long been viewed as the most difficult and dangerous route in the ''Wetterstein Mountains''.Toni Hiebeler: ''Zugspitze – Von der Erstbesteigung bis heute''. Mosaik, Munich, 1985, p. 223. . The other routes are classified between grades III and VII. All these climbs are only suitable for experienced mountaineers. Riffeltorkopf 2

Sources

* Stephan Beulke: Alpenvereinsführer Wetterstein. 4th ed. Bergverlag Rother, Munich, 1996, p. 450ff, {{ISBN, 978-3-7633-1119-4.

References

Mountains of Bavaria Mountains of the Alps Two-thousanders of Germany Wetterstein