Allgäu hiking tour from Zinken to Sorgschrofen in the Allgäu

Challenging ridge hike across the Sorgschrofen

The tour begins in the center of Unterjoch, leads past a church on the right, and after another 400 m, left onto the Steinebergweg up to the Zehrerhöfe farms. These are the highest year-round farms in Germany.

Directly above the farms, the path initially leads across meadows toward a forest, where it narrows and the actual mountain trail begins.

Continuing through the forest, you reach a larger meadow and across it in steep switchbacks to the ridge, where you hike past some rugged rocks until just below the summit of the 1613 m high Zinken. You climb the last 30 meters of elevation on a wire rope, climbing through a hole in the rock and then up a ramp and two or three rock staircases to the summit.

The Zinken is the German summit of the Sorgschrofen massif and offers a beautiful view directly onto Unterjoch.

From the summit, you climb back through the hole in the rock and make the traverse to the Sorgschrofen. (If you don't feel confident crossing the ridge, simply turn around here and hike back to Unterjoch on the familiar path. Traversing is also strongly discouraged in wet conditions!).

You can begin the traverse through a hole in the rock (which is very narrow, especially with a backpack), or you can take the path below the rocks and reach the connecting ridge via this path. The trail, partially secured with wire ropes by the mountain rescue service, now leads partly above and partly below the ridge in about 30 minutes to the Sorgschrofen (1635 m), the Austrian summit.

From here, you have a magnificent view of the lowlands on one side and the Allgäu Alpine peaks on the other. After this magnificent view, follow the now sloping ridge in a northeasterly direction and turn left.

There, you descend over scree terrain (be careful in wet conditions) towards Jungholz. Soon, the somewhat more difficult terrain transitions into a hiking trail along the upper edge of the forest, which leads you first to the right and then downhill to the top station of the ski lift. There, turn left and after about 20 minutes, walk across meadows to the Bärenlochweg, which leads you back to Unterjoch, where you can finally stop for a bite to eat.