Most beautiful hiking routes

Narrow path through impetuous forces of nature

The Breitach Gorge is mighty as you hike along steep paths and paved trails.

(Bild: Rubina Bergauer)

The gorge carved into the rock by the Breitach river over thousands of years is absolutely impressive - and well worth a visit.

The Breitachklamm is the deepest gorge in Central Europe and is located between Kleinwalsertal and Oberstdorf in the Allgäu. The impressive natural area was probably formed at the end of the so-called Würm Ice Age around 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, when fast-flowing water carries large amounts of debris with it and the river cuts into the rock, creating a gorge. When the Ice Age glaciers melted, the Breitach cut around 150 meters deep into the rock over a length of two and a half kilometers.

Facts and figures

Type: circular hike
Duration: depending on the variant chosen, 45 minutes to several hours (a map with the various routes can be found at the entrance to the Breitachklamm gorge; if necessary, check the website in advance for current trail closures(www.breitachklamm.com)
Starting point: Walserschanz parking lot in Riezlern (Walser bus line 1) or Tiefenbach parking lot (Allgäu)
Costs: four euros parking fee and 7.50 euros entrance fee for adults; 2.50 euros for children
Equipment: shoes with good tread soles (paths can be slippery!), clothing suitable for the weather
There are plenty of places to stop for refreshments in and around Oberstdorf, and you can also stop for a bite to eat in the surrounding Alps

 
Extensive work in the gorge
This process is still ongoing. The water continues to work its way through the stone by a fraction of a millimeter every day with untiring force. Today, the Breitachklamm gorge is well developed. From the parking lot, you follow the marked path through the impressive gorge and then have several options to extend the tour. This was not always so easy.

(Bild: Rubina Bergauer)

The discoverer of the gorge and initiator of its development was Johannes Schiebel (1871-1963), a clergyman from Tiefenbach. He was looking for a promising source of income for the then very poor population. In 1904, Schiebel organized the construction of a visitor passage through the gorge. Local building contractors turned him down due to the high risk of the work. The choice fell on the South Tyrolean company Johann Lucian, which had the confidence to take on the project. In just under a year, 20 specialists completed the dangerous work without the help of machinery.

Botany

The starry stonecrop belongs to the umbellifer family and is a perennial herbaceous plant. It grows to a height of 30 to 100 centimeters. The five to seven-part leaves have coarsely toothed lobes. The stem branches out at the top and bears an umbel. Each umbel is surrounded by many rough bracts, which are narrowly lanceolate and can be greenish-white to reddish in color. The star-shaped bracts simulate a single large flower, which is atypical for umbellifers. The starry umbellifer is common in the Alps and prefers mountain meadows, mountain forests and tall herbaceous meadows on moist, calcareous clay soils. Because of its pretty inflorescences, the greater star-thistle is also used as an ornamental plant.

Large star umbel

(Bild: Rubina Bergauer)

Over 1000 kilograms of black powder, 50 kilograms of dynamite and a good four kilometers of fuse were used for this. The gorge now attracts around 300,000 visitors a year. Despite all safety measures, however, the forces of nature can never be completely tamed: In September 1995, a gigantic rockfall occurred. Early in the morning, several thousand cubic meters of stone broke out of a rock face and thundered into the gorge. 

Huge tidal wave and primordial oceans
Further obstructions followed. During the snowmelt in spring 1996, the dam of the lake burst and a flood wave up to 35 meters high devastated the lower gorge. The remains of this colossal rockfall can still be seen today. The gorge consists mainly of Schrattenkalk and Seewerkkalk, with layers of sandstone in between.

Fauna in the gorge

Despite the extremes of this habitat, numerous specialists have also found a home in the gorge. If you look closely, you may discover one or two inhabitants. Brown trout can be found in the somewhat calmer river courses in the gorge area. The red spots with a white border on the flank of this predatory fish are striking. This fish species lives in cool, clear streams and mountain rivers. It feeds on insects, larvae, snails, crustaceans and other small fish. The dipper can be found on large stones in the water and on the banks. The roughly starling-sized, roundish bird is the only native songbird that can dive and swim. The dipper usually builds its nest directly on the bank. Its diet consists of small aquatic animals such as caddis fly larvae, amphipods and snails. The birds are so well adapted to their habitat that they can even walk several meters under water.

Dipper

(Bild: Rubina Bergauer)

The area of the gorge is part of the "Helveticum", which is one of the largest geological cover systems in the Alps. The rocks are made up of the remains of plankton, corals, sponges, mussel and snail shells that were once deposited in a primeval sea. The millennia-old history of its formation and the unbridled power of the thundering water still make the Breitachklamm gorge appear today as a place of impetuous elemental forces.