After almost a year, I was once again a guest at the Rossalm, the highest alpine pasture in the Chiemgau. Today, Conny, the dairymaid from the neighbouring Haidenholzalm, was also visiting to make fresh alpine cheese. She had once spent three summers “apprenticing with Sepp” on the Rossalm, as she put it. This gave me the opportunity to follow and learn about the entire cheese-making process, from milking the cows to the start of the ageing process.
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During my last visit to the Bavarian Alps, I learned an old word: Schwenden. Schwenden is an old method of maintaining alpine pastures. It involves the laborious manual removal of unwanted bushes, shrubs, or young trees, especially mountain pines and alpine roses. This keeps the alpine meadows open as grazing areas for livestock. Read more
Oimzeit (alpine pasture time) is the most wonderful time – that’s what it says on one of the alpine huts, and I couldn’t agree more. After the cattle drive at the end of last summer, I visited Ackernalm again for the first time this year. Yellow blooming globeflowers shone on the lush green meadows. The cowbells’ jingling can be heard from afar, forming a constant backdrop of sound. In the evening, I sat on the Grabenbergalm below the Fuchsloch in the last rays of the evening sun, looking out at the Schinder, Halserspitz, and Blaubergkamm behind the Brandenberger Ache.
On the drive to Ackernalm in the Bavarian Prealps, the wide thunderstorm front approaching from the west caught up with me already in the Alpine foothills. Lightning flashed and heavy showers accompanied me for the remaining kilometres of the journey via Bayrischzell, the Ursprung Pass and finally up the toll road to the alm. Read more
After climbing to the summit of Geigelstein, I reached my day’s destination, the Rossalm. It covers around 50 hectares and lies on a high plateau between Rossalpenkopf, Tauron, and Weitlahnerkopf at an altitude of 1,600 to 1,750 metres. This makes it the highest alpine pasture in Chiemgau and one of the highest in the Bavarian Alps. Its origins date back to the Sachrang Alpine Pasture Regulations of 1558, where it is listed as one of the three Sachrang ancient alpine pastures. The name Rossalm comes from the fact that the Schleching ‘Samerbauern’ (pack-horse farmers) used to be allowed to drive “Samrosse”, i.e. horses, onto the alpine pasture in addition to cattle *. The alpine pasture is an impressive alpine cultural landscape with a peaceful, quiet atmosphere. Read more
The hike up the Geigelstein was the start of an eventful late summer day in the Chiemgau Alps. The first few metres from the hikers’ car park at Huben in the Priental valley led steeply through dense, still cool mountain forest. I quickly gained altitude via the Jägersteig trail and reached open meadow terrain and the warming sun for the first time at the Wirtsalm. To the south, the morning mist was clearing over the Kaiser Mountains and the Kaiserwinkel. The path led past the huts of the Schreckalm and, after a northward bend, I could now see the summit of the Geigelstein (1,808 m) glowing in the morning sun.
How often have I hiked across flowering alpine meadows or been accompanied by the sound of cowbells on my treks, all while longing for untouched wilderness. I gradually overlooked what diverse and ecologically rich landscapes human cultivation in the Alpine region has created over the centuries. Read more
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