Zugspitzplatt

The Zugspitze ( , ; ), at above sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains and the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, and the Austria–Germany border is on its western summit. South of the mountain is the ''Zugspitzplatt'', a high karst plateau with numerous caves. On the flanks of the Zugspitze are two glaciers, the largest in Germany: the Northern Schneeferner with an area of 30.7 hectares and Höllentalferner with an area of 24.7 hectares. Shrinking of the Southern Schneeferner led to the loss of glacier status in 2022.

The Zugspitze was first climbed on 27 August 1820 by Josef Naus; his survey assistant, Maier, and mountain guide, Johann Georg Tauschl. Today there are three normal routes to the summit: one from the Höllental valley to the northeast; another out of the Reintal valley to the southeast; and the third from the west over the Austrian Cirque (''Österreichische Schneekar''). One of the best known ridge routes in the Eastern Alps runs along the knife-edged Jubilee Ridge (''Jubiläumsgrat'') to the summit, linking the Zugspitze, the Hochblassen and the Alpspitze. For mountaineers there is plenty of nearby accommodation. On the western summit of the Zugspitze itself is the Münchner Haus and on the western slopes is the Wiener-Neustädter Hut.

Three cable cars run to the top of the Zugspitze. The first, the Tyrolean Zugspitze Cable Car, was built in 1926 by the German company ''Adolf Bleichert & Co'' and terminated on an arête below the summit at 2,805 m.a.s.l, the so-called Kammstation, before the terminus was moved to the actual summit at 2,951 m.a.s.l. in 1991. A rack railway, the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway, runs inside the northern flank of the mountain and ends on the ''Zugspitzplatt'', from where a second cable car runs a short way down to the ''Schneefernerhaus'', formerly a hotel, but since 1999 an environmental research station; a weather station opened there in 1900. The rack railway and the Eibsee Cable Car, the third cableway, transport an average of 500,000 people to the summit each year. In winter, nine ski lifts cover the ski area on the ''Zugspitzplatt''.

Geography

The Zugspitze belongs to the Wetterstein range of the Northern Limestone Alps. The Austria–Germany border goes right over the mountain. There used to be a border checkpoint at the summit but, since Germany and Austria are now both part of the Schengen zone, the border crossing is no longer staffed.

The exact height of the Zugspitze was a matter of debate for quite a while. Given figures ranged from , but it is now generally accepted that the peak is above sea level as a result of a survey carried out by the Bavarian State Survey Office. The lounge at the new café is named "2962" for this reason.

Location

At (eastern peak) the Zugspitze is the highest mountain of the Zugspitze massif. This height is referenced to the Amsterdam Gauge and is given by the Bavarian State Office for Survey and Geoinformation. The same height is recorded against the Trieste Gauge used in Austria, which is 27 cm lower. Originally the Zugspitze had three peaks: the east, middle and west summits (''Ost-'', ''Mittel-'' and ''Westgipfel''). The only one that has remained in its original form is the east summit, which is also the only one that lies entirely on German territory. The middle summit fell victim to one of the cable car summit stations in 1930. In 1938 the west summit was blown up to create a building site for a planned flight control room for the ''Wehrmacht''. This was never built however. Originally the height of the west summit was given as .

The mountain rises eleven kilometres southwest of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and just under six kilometres east of Ehrwald. The border between Germany and Austria runs over the west summit; thus the Zugspitze massif belongs to the German state of Bavaria and the Austrian state of Tyrol. The municipalities responsible for it are Grainau and Ehrwald. To the west the Zugspitze massif drops into the valley of the River Loisach, which flows around the massif towards the northeast in a curve whilst, in the east, the streams of ''Hammersbach'' and Partnach have their source. To the south the ''Gaistal'' valley and its river, the Leutascher Ache, separate the Wetterstein Mountains from the Mieming Chain. To the north at the foot of the Zugspitze is the lake of Eibsee. The next highest mountain in the area is the Acherkogel () in the Stubai Alps, which gives the Zugspitze a topographic isolation value of 24.6 kilometres. The reference point for the prominence is the Parseierspitze (). In order to climb it from the Zugspitze, a descent to the Fern Pass () is required, so that the prominence is .

Zugspitze Massif

The massif of the Zugspitze has several other peaks. To the south the ''Zugspitzplatt'' is surrounded in an arc by the ''Zugspitzeck'' () and Schneefernerkopf (), the Wetterspitzen (), the Wetterwandeck (), the Plattspitzen () and the ''Gatterlköpfen'' (). The massif ends in the ''Gatterl'' (), a wind gap between it and the Hochwanner. Running eastwards away from the Zugspitze is the famous Jubilee Ridge or ''Jubiläumsgrat'' over the Höllentalspitzen towards the Alpspitze and Hochblassen. The short crest of the ''Riffelwandkamm'' runs northeast over the summits of the Riffelwandspitzen () and the ''Riffelköpfe'' (), to the Riffel wind gap (''Riffelscharte'', ). From here the ridge of the ''Waxensteinkamm'' stretches away over the Riffelspitzen to the Waxenstein.''Alpine Club Map 4/2 – Wetterstein und Mieminger Gebirge Mitte'' (1:25,000). 5th edition. Alpenvereinsverlag, Munich, 2007

Zugspitzplatt

The ''Platt'' or ''Zugspitzplatt'' is a plateau below the summit of the Zugspitze to the south and southeast which lies at a height of between . It forms the head of the Reintal valley and has been shaped by a combination of weathering, karstification and glaciation. The area contains roches moutonnées, dolines and limestone pavements as a consequence of the ice ages. In addition moraines have been left behind by various glacial periods. The ''Platt'' was completely covered by a glacier for the last time at the beginning of the 19th century. Today 52 percent of it consists of scree, 32 percent of bedrock and 16 percent of vegetation-covered soils, especially in the middle and lower areas.

Climate

The climate is tundra (Köppen: ''ET''), maintaining the only glacier present in Germany, which has observed its reduction over the years. From a climatic perspective the Zugspitze lies in the temperate zone and its prevailing winds are Westerlies. As the first high orographic obstacle to these Westerlies in the Alps, the Zugspitze is particularly exposed to the weather. It is effectively the north barrier of the Alps (''Nordstau der Alpen''), against which moist air masses pile up and release heavy precipitation. At the same time the Zugspitze acts as a protective barrier for the Alpine ranges to the south. By contrast, Föhn weather conditions push in the other direction against the massif, affecting the region for about 60 days per year. These warm, dry air masses stream from south to north and can result in unusually high temperatures in winter. Nevertheless, frost dominates the picture on the Zugspitze with an average of 310 days per year.

For the decades from 1961 to 1990 – designated by the World Meteorological Organization as the "normal period" – the average annual precipitation on the Zugspitze was 2,003.1  mm; the wettest month being April with 199 mm, and the driest, October with 108.8 mm. By comparison the values for 2009 were 2,070.8 mm, the wettest month being March with 326.2 mm and the driest, January, with 56.4 mm. The average temperature in the normal period was −4.8 Celsius, with July and August being the warmest at 2.2 °C and February, the coldest, with −11.4 °C. By comparison the average temperature in 2009 was −4.2 °C, the warmest month was August at 5.3 °C and the coldest was February at −13.5 °C. The average sunshine during the normal period was 1,846.3 hours per year, the sunniest month being October with 188.8 hours and the darkest being December with 116.1 hours. In 2009 there were 1,836.3 hours of sunshine, the least occurring in February with just 95.4 hours and the most in April with 219 hours. In 2009, according to the weather survey by the German Met Office, the Zugspitze was the coldest place in Germany with a mean annual temperature of −4.2 °C.

The lowest measured temperature on the Zugspitze was −35.6 °C on 14 February 1940. The highest temperature occurred on 5 July 1957 when the thermometer reached 17.9 °C. A squall on 12 June 1985 registered 335 km/h, the highest measured wind speed on the Zugspitze. In April 1944 meteorologists recorded a snow depth of 8.3 metres. Ritschel & Dauer (2007), p. 75ff.
Nowadays, snow completely melts during summer, but in the past snow might resist the summer months, the last case when the snow failed to melt during the whole summer season was in 2000.

Geology

The geological strata composing the mountain are sedimentary rocks of the Mesozoic era, that were originally laid down on the seabed. The base of the mountain comprises muschelkalk beds; its upper layers are made of Wetterstein limestone. With steep rock walls up to 800 metres high, it is this Wetterstein limestone from the Upper Triassic that is mainly responsible for the rock faces, arêtes, pinnacles and the summit rocks of the mountain. Due to the frequent occurrence of marine coralline algae in the Wetterstein limestone it can be deduced that this rock was at one time formed in a lagoon. The colour of the rock varies between grey-white and light grey to speckled. In several places it contains lead and zinc ore. These minerals were mined between 1827 and 1918 in the Höllental valley. The dark grey, almost horizontal and partly grass-covered layers of muschelkalk run from the foot of the Great Riffelwandspitze to the Ehrwalder Köpfe. From the appearance of the north face of the Zugspitze it can be seen that this massif originally consisted of two mountain ranges that were piled on top of one another.

Flora

Since the 16th century sheep grazing has been practiced on the Zugsitzplatt. Currently there are about 400 sheep maintained on Zugspitzplatt.

The shaded and moist northern slopes of the massif like, for example, the Wettersteinwald, are some of the most species-rich environments on the Zugspitze. The mountain pine grows at elevations of up to 1,800 metres. The woods lower down consist mainly of spruce and fir, but honeysuckle, woodruff, poisonous herb paris, meadow-rue and speedwell also occur here. Dark columbine, alpine clematis, blue and yellow monkshood, white corn lily, stemless carline thistle, false aster, golden cinquefoil, round-leaved saxifrage, wall hawkweed, alpine calamint and alpine forget-me-not flower in the less densely wooded places, whilst cinquefoil, sticky sage, butterbur

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