The Zugspitze, at 2,962 m (9,718 ft) above sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains as well as the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the Austria–Germany border runs over its western summit. South of the mountain is the Zugspitzplatt, a high karst plateau with numerous caves. On the flanks of the Zugspitze are three glaciers, including the two largest in Germany: the Northern Schneeferner with an area of 30.7 hectares and the Höllentalferner with an area of 24.7 hectares. The third is the Southern Schneeferner which covers 8.4 hectares.
The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is the national representative body for England and Wales that exists to protect the freedoms and promote the interests of climbers, hill walkers and mountaineers, including ski-mountaineers. The BMC are also recognised by government as the national governing body for competition climbing.
The Austrian Alpine Club has about 573,000 members in 196 sections and is the largest mountaineering organisation in Austria. It is responsible for the upkeep of over 234 alpine huts in Austria and neighbouring countries. It also maintains over 26,000 kilometres of footpaths, and produces detailed maps of key mountain areas within Austria. Much of this work is done by the association's 22,000 volunteers. The association has a museum in Innsbruck dedicated to the history of alpinism. It also has sections in Belgium and the United Kingdom, and a group in Poland.
A mountain hut is a building located high in the mountains, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. Mountain huts are usually operated by an Alpine Club or some organization dedicated to hiking or mountain recreation. They are known by many names, including alpine hut, mountain shelter, mountain refuge, mountain lodge, and mountain hostel. It may also be called a refuge hut, although these occur in lowland areas too.
The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) is an amateur athletic association with its national office in Canmore, Alberta that has been a focal point for Canadian mountaineering since its founding in 1906. The club was co-founded by Arthur Oliver Wheeler, who served as its first president, and Elizabeth Parker, a journalist for the Manitoba Free Press. Byron Harmon, whose 6500+ photographs of the Canadian Rockies in the early 20th century provide the best glimpse of the area at that time, was official photographer to the club at its founding. The club is the leading organization in Canada devoted to climbing, mountain culture, and issues related to alpine pursuits and ecology. It is also the Canadian regulatory organization for climbing competition, sanctioning local, regional and national events, and assembling, coaching and supporting the national team.
The Swiss Alpine Club is the largest mountaineering club in Switzerland. It was founded in 1863 in Olten and it is now composed of 111 sections with 160,000 members (2020). These include the Association of British Members of the Swiss Alpine Club.
The Britannia Hut is a mountain hut of the Swiss Alpine Club, located south of Saas-Almagell in the canton of Valais. The hut lies at a height of 3,030 metres above sea level, at the foot of the Allalinhorn near the Allalin Glacier, in the Mischabel massif. It is a starting point for the ascents of Strahlhorn, Rimpfischhorn and Allalinhorn.
The Wetterstein mountains, colloquially called Wetterstein, is a mountain group in the Northern Limestone Alps within the Eastern Alps. It is a comparatively compact range located between Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Mittenwald, Seefeld in Tirol and Ehrwald along the border between Germany (Bavaria) and Austria (Tyrol). Zugspitze, the highest peak is at the same time the highest mountain in Germany.
Speikboden is a massif in the Central Eastern Alps located between the three valleys Weißenbach, Mühlwald and Ahrntal. Running in a south-easterly direction, it forms the eastern part of an outlier of the western Zillertal Alps. Its highest point, likewise named Speikboden, is 2,517 m. Further well-known peaks in this massif include Seewassernock (2,516 m), Große Nock (2,400 m), Kleine Nock (2,227 m) and Gornerberg (2,475 m).
The German Alpine Club is the world's largest climbing association and the eighth-largest sporting association in Germany. It is a member of the German Olympic Sports Confederation and the competent body for sport and competition climbing, hiking, mountaineering, hill walking, ice climbing, mountain expeditions, as well as ski mountaineering. It is an association made up of local branches known as 'sections'.
The Hochvogel is a 2,592-metre-high (8,504 ft) mountain in the Allgäu Alps. The national border between Germany and Austria runs over the summit. Although only the thirteenth highest summit in the Allgäu Alps, the Hochvogel dominates other parts of Allgäu Alps and the other ranges in the immediate neighbourhood. This is due to the fact that the majority of the higher peaks are concentrated in the central and western part of the Allgäu Alps. The Hochvogel stands on its own in the eastern part of the mountain group; the nearest neighbouring summits are 200 to 300 metres lower. Experienced climbers can ascend the summit on two marked routes.
The German and Austrian Alpine Club was a merger of the German, Austrian and German Bohemian Alpine Club that existed from 1873 to 1938.
Alpine club huts or simply club huts (Clubhütten) form the majority of the over 1,300 mountain huts in the Alps and are maintained by branches, or sections, of the various Alpine clubs. Although the usual English translation of Hütte is "hut", most of them are substantial buildings designed to accommodate and feed significant numbers of hikers and climbers and to withstand harsh high alpine conditions for decades.
The Fritz Pflaum Hut is an Alpine club hut belonging to the Bayerland Section of the German Alpine Club, located in the Kaisergebirge mountains in the Austrian federal state of Tyrol.
The Höllentalanger Hut 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-Riffelwand crest and is open from the end of May to mid-October. It has more than 80 bedspaces.
The Laufen Hut sits at an elevation of 1,726 metres (5,663 ft) in the Tennengebirge at the foot of the Fritzerkogel mountain in the Austrian state of Salzburg. The Fritzerkogel, with an elevation of 2,360 metres (7,740 ft), is one of the higher peaks in the Tennen Mountains in the northern Limestone Alps. The Laufen Alpine club hut is operated as a self-service facility as a major base for numerous climbing routes, circular routes and crossings, as well as hiking on the plateau of the Tennengebirge, and ski touring.
The Nördlinger Hut is an Alpine Club hut belonging to the German Alpine Club that is situated at a height of 2,238 m (AA) south of the summit of the Reither Spitze in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is thus the highest refuge hut in the entire Karwendel range. It is located in the westernmost part of the Karwendel Alps, the Erlspitze Group, above the village and ski resort of Seefeld. From the hut there are expansive views over the Stubai Alps, the Inn valley and the Wetterstein Mountains.
The Gleirscher Rosskogel is a mountain in the northern Stubai Alps in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is not particularly independent, because about 750 metres to the north rises the higher summit of the Zwieselbacher Rosskogel (3,081 m). Formerly the 3,008 spot height on the arête between the two peaks was named as the Gleirscher Rosskogel, and this is still the case on many maps; in which case the present Gleirscher Rosskogel would then be called the Gleirscher Rosskopf. At the top is a small metal summit cross with a plaque inscribed with the present name of the peak and an elevation of 2,950 m.
The Società degli Alpinisti Tridentini (SAT) is an alpine club operating in the Italian alpine province of Trento. It is the largest branch of the Italian Alpine Club.
The Bergwacht is an organisation that is part of the German Red Cross (DRK-Bergwacht), whose primary functions are mountain rescue and nature conservation. The voluntary organisation provides over 90% of the emergency services in the impassable terrain of the German Central Upland and Alpine regions. By contrast the Austrian Berg- und Naturwachten Österreichs purely looks after nature conservation and the environment, leaving Alpine rescue in the hands of the Austrian Mountain Rescue Service.