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What could be better on a sunny sunday than grabbing your ski touring stuff and climbing to a balcony with a view? Quite simple: to do the whole thing with your children! And where do ski tour families find the ideal beginner mountain? Also very easy: At the Kranzberg, high above Mittenwald!
Leni and Lois love skiing. The two siblings always go skiing if they get the opportunity. Last winter they collected about hundred skiing days. No, not for both together, for each of them. If the 13-year-old Partenkirchnerin – not Garmischerin! – and her three years younger brother have no ski races at the weekend they don’t like to stay at home and do nothing, but of course go out for diving…for deep snow diving. With wide battens, touring binding and skins. And with Mama Karen and Papa Holger. Leni and Lois love to rush from the Kreuzjoch over to Stuiben. But today, for a change, they go on a family ski tour in the neighborhood – to the sunny Kranzberg, high above the roofs of Mittenwald.
But first lets go one floor down, from almost 1400 meters high Kranzberg to the 500 meters lower Mittenwald: That sounds like violins, mountaineers and ‘Maschkera’, leather trousers and humpbacked meadows. And always quietly like the Kranzberg. If the → Dammkar in the east of Mittenwald brags with all sorts of superlatives, the Kranzberg in the west of Mittenwald is much more modest in a very sympathetic way. After some days of heavy snow fall you can see the main differences between the Dammkar and the Kranzberg (the ski area siblings). Ski boot prints and scuffles for the first place in the gondola belong to the Karwendelbahn. On the other hand the Kranzberg with its few ski lifts is always deeply relaxed and unruffled. And wonderfully old-fashioned. The hut at the Luttensee valley station just does not want to find out from the eighties. And the kids born in 2015 and 2016 have fun in the practice carousel. Like her parents thirty years ago. And so many grandparents already.
Ok no jokes anymore! In truth, the Kranzberg is a small winter sports jewel, that is well-protected by the ‘Mittenwalder’. Maybe a bit dusty. But it’s just as with the British coronation crown of Lissi II, so it behaves at ski resorts: the most unimpressive clunkers are the most valuable. The Kranzberg shines copared to the powerful Dammkar namely with a priceless advantage: It gets the sun. If somebody has switched off the light in the northwest slopes under the Karwendel peaks from October to March and can not find the switch anymore, then the meadow hill in the west of Mittenwald is shines bright with the sun. Another invaluable advantage for ski tour families: the distance between the bottom and the top is simply ideal. Mittenwald is located at 912 meters above sea level, the Kranzberg summit is 1391 meters high. These 500 high meters are already guarantee for frustration-free family fun on the rise.
“After one and a half, maximum two hours uphill most kids get tired and don’t want to walk anymore,” says Papa Holger. Then, according to experience, the small high-performance batteries also have the contents of Trappatonis “empty bottle”. So parents should always have enough to eat and drink on the supposedly short ski tour to the Kranzberg. Drinks, of course, in the unbreakable thermos bottle. In case of falling. Mama Karen recommends hot tea – sweetened with sugar. As super fuel for the tired engines. As an old ski tour specialist, Holger even has a tow rope for the 10-year-old Lois. Just in case. He has never used it before. And as a little motivation bomb Holger always has some sweets in his ski pants. But today the whole family smiles even without extra motivation bombs. It starts with pulling apart the glued skins that ends in a tug-of-war contest between son and his old man. Followed by the sharp turn ski ballet of the girls with hopelessly twisted legs and finishes with finger graffiti at the sauna-heated windows in the hut.
But one after another! Anyone who wants can climb the Kranzberg directly from the valley station in Mittenwald on the flat forehead. Our family chooses a different route: you park a little further up, at the Luttensee lift, and climb along the exemplary signposted “K2 ski tour route” to the summit. They pass the Korbinianhütte and the Berggasthof St. Anton. The family wants to reach the summit first so no stop before the top. Luckily, there’s a tiny log cabin waiting right at the summit – and mum Karens sugar tea. “Sugar is the parents worst enemy, but the children’s best friend!”, Says dad Holger and shows a big ‘toothpaste-smile’.
After the summit hut-picnic in thin air at an altitude of 1391 meters it’s time for removing the ski skins, step into the bindings again and go down through powder snow. The children are very grateful for one thing: good equipment. “If you give them old or bad equipment, the first ski tour can also be the last one, “says Holger. He is right! Meanwhile, there is really good material in X-small sizes. Always important: safety on tour. “On on-pist ski tours everything is easy, but if you take your kids to open terrain you should be aware of dangers.” says the state-certified Ski instructor. “Even the kids have to carry backpacks with a tracker beacon, a probe and a shovel – and learn how to handle them.” But what could be more fun than searching for easter eggs with Pieps?
And now, let’s go deep snow diving! One thing is clear: The Kranzberg is not steep but has style. And who starts at the Luttensee like Leni, Lois & Co., has some nice north-facing slopes in front of him. ‘Big Turns’ are so much fun!
Kranzberg info box
The 1391 meter high Kranzberg near Mittenwald is the ideal destination for a family ski tour with children from the age about ten. From the valley station of the Kranzberg cable car in Mittenwald or the valley station of the Lutten lift, you can climb in the mostly flat terrain, past some refuges, to the summit. Above, a tiny wooden hut awaits – and a 360-degree panorama over to the steep cliffs of Karwendel and Wetterstein and down into the violin-building community Mittenwald. Down you go over mostly gentle east or north slopes again to Mittenwald or the Luttensee parking lot.
Find more blog posts about ski touring here:
→ How to choose the right Avalanche-Safety Equipment
→ HOW TO: Cut ski climbing skins
Photos: ©Anton Brey