Silent Starry Night at Funtensee

Funtensee and Kärlingerhaus, a mountain hut belonging to the German Alpine Club, are located in a wonderfully beautiful mountain landscape within Berchtesgaden National Park, offering magnificent hiking and mountain tours. Consequently, the hut is very popular, if not often overcrowded, during the summer months. It’s quieter in late autumn, when fewer hikers are out due to shorter days and closed huts, and they have to stay overnight as self-caterers in the hut’s winter room – which I found to be comfortably equipped.

That’s why two years ago, at the end of October, I came to Königssee and Funtensee to experience the radiant, golden autumn for a few days. Autumn in 2015 was just as radiant and colourful, and a mild late autumn even allowed for a tour in November, past Kärlingerhaus up to Ingolstädterhaus and onto one or two snow-free peaks. It was also a new moon, and I wanted to try taking photos of the starry sky, which is favoured by the clear mountain air at altitude and the distance from settlements.

Shortly after Schrainbach, I was all by myself and experienced a day of rare and soothing silence. Even at Kärlingerhaus, I remained the only guest overnight, apart from the hut’s resident animal – a fox that crept within a metre of me during the night shots, probably hoping for food. After the early dusk, the Milky Way became clearly visible in the clear night, and even shooting stars could be observed. Of course, numerous planes crossed the night sky; perhaps I was also lucky that fewer flights or disturbing lights crossed my horizon due to the current Lufthansa strike.

The next morning, I set off early to quickly reach the warming sun and the Steinerne Meer with Ingolstädterhaus.