Heuberg (Inntal)

Overview

Entering Inntal valley from the north, that will say from Munich, Salzburg and Rosenheim direction, there is a first mountain to your left like a sentinel of the valley: Heuberg with its many summits.

Heuberg means a small world of its own:

1. There are at least four small summits to distinguish, Kitzstein, the highest of the four brother peaks, to the south, Heuberg in the center, Wasserwand and Kindlwand to the north. All can be summited on a loop route in one day.
2. The mountain hosts many rock features with many climbing routes, among them: Eingefallene Wand, Backofen, Kundl, and several caves.
3. On a very small scale you can hike, climb, use easy via ferrata, explore a stunning geology and – in early spring – can discover an abundance of crocus flowers on the slopes above Daffnerwaldalm, rarely to be seen in other places.
4. When other mountains are covered in snow, Heuberg often is snow free and offers even winter hikes.

Heuberg is not a very high mountain, Kindlwand does not exceed 1400 m, but the variety of landscapes, rocks, plants, views and activities makes it worth a visit. Our Inntal valley sentinel is the westermost summit of Chiemgauer Alpen.

Getting There

Two main trailheads for Heuberg are:

Nußdorf am Inn

Samerberg / Duftbräu

You reach the trailheads by car:

• From Munich or Salzburg direction by using highway A 8 and then A 93 to the exit Brannenburg;
• From Innsbruck direction by using Austrian highway A 12 to the border and A 93 likewise to the exit Brannenburg;
• After the exit turn on road number St2359 to Nußdorf. Turn right on Hauptstraße and left on Lindenweg and proceed to Winkelwiesenweg where you can park your car near the forest road leading to Heuberg.
• For Samerberg trailhead turn left on Hauptstraße at Nußdorf and right again in the direction of Samerberg. Turn right again after a gas station and follow the signs to Duftbräu inn. There are several hiker parking areas around, best take the last one near the inn.

Public transportation:

Best railroad station for Heuberg is Rosenheim.

Bus number 9490 goes from Rosenheim station to Nußdorf Hauptstraße (only Monday through Friday).

Bus number 9493 goes from Rosenheim station to Duftbräu.

The nearest railroad station is Brannenburg. However bus links to the trailheads are not as frequent as from Rosenheim!

Routes Overview

Heuberg topo and routes overview:

West trail from Nußdorf:

From Winkelwiesweg follow the forest road to the woods edge. Turn right onto trail up to Bichler Alm passing by the huge quarry and crossing a forest road two times. Arriving at Kindlwandsattel col turn left to the short and amusing climb up Kindlwand (UIAA grade I moves, a rock hole to pass through).

Back to Kindlwandsattel col turn right onto the trail up to the top of Eingefallene Wand and to Heuberg summit.

Forest road route from Nußdorf:

From Winkelwiesweg follow the forest road up to the church of Maria Heimsuchung / Kirchwald and proceed to Deindl Hütte / Daffnerwaldalm. Use the trail on the east slope to ascent to Heuberg summit.

Both routes build the Nußdorf - Heuberg loop route

Samerberg route:

A shorter route starts at the Duftbräu inn parking area above Samerberg. Follow the forest road up to Deindl Hütte / Daffnerwaldalm and the east slope trail to Heuberg.

North of Heuberg summit at a col some meters below Heuberg starts the short via ferrata to Wasserwand; exposed, grade I moves, fun.

To Kitzwand, the highest point of Heuberg, follow the southeast ridge of Heuberg summit down to a col and follow the trail up the northwest slope to Kitzstein summit.

Climbing routes:

• Wasserwand southeast face hosts three routes, grade VI to VII.
• The rock spires Kundl and Backofen host about 20 short climbing routes between grade IV and VIII.
• The Höllwand, southern rockface of Kitzstein has two climbing routes up to grade IX; one of them is called “highway to hell” …
• Several rock faces are located along the trail from Nußdorf to Bichleralm. Several short and difficult routes have been established here (grade VII to IX).

Red Tape & Accommodation

Due to the huge and still active quarry above Nußdorf parts of the Heuberg west slopes are closed for the public. Please stay on the marked trails and respect the restricted zones.

Accommodation:

Nußdorf

Brannenburg

Samerberg

Deindlalm (private mountain hut for food and overnight stay)

Gear & Mountain Condition

Heuberg can be summited the whole year. Only in strong winters with much snow there will be a break for hikers.

Ski touring and snow shoe hiking is possible via the east slope to Heuberg summit.

You need hiking gear for Heuberg and Kitzstein. Wasserwand and Kindlwand however are short climbs with grade I moves in exposed rock terrains. As these summits can be crowded a helmet is recommended.

In winter you need your avalanche gear for skiing and snow shoe hiking. Check the Bavarian avalanche bulletin here.

Weather condition:

Geology

Geologically Heuberg and ist many summits and subsummits is a syncline structure. This means the youngest rocks are found in the very center of the structure, the older ones are located to the rim. At Heuberg the center of the syncline with the youngest sediments can be found between Heuberg summit and Kitzstein summit along the trail between the two peaks.

Most interesting thing: Heuberg shows on a small scale all important units of the Northern Limestone Alps (NLA) deposits between middle Triassic to lower Cretacious times, rather unique in the whole of the NLA ranges.

A hike from Nußdorf via Bichler Alm to Kitzstein shows you all these units:

The rocks around the huge quarry near Nußdorf belong to the Alpine Muschelkalk, limestones near the basement of the NLA units and rarely as good exposed as here.

The near white rock faces around Bichler Alm belong to Wettersteinkalk, huge algae reef limestones and excellent rocks for climbers. Kindlwand, the northern summit of Heuberg with ist nice short via ferrata and some easy rock climbing routes is built up of Wettersteinkalk, too.

The col south of Kindlwand shows marls and siltstones which belong to the so called Raibler Schichten, sediments deposited in troughs between and above the reefs of Wettersteinkalk and marking an abrupt change in the marine milieu of those times.

Overlying Raibler Schichten are laguna sediments, the so called Hauptdolomit, which build up the rock feature of Eingefallene Wand and the lower northern slopes of Heuberg summit. It is a crumbly and frail dolomitic stone and the denomination „Eingefallene Wand“ – crumbled down rockface – speaks for itself.

At the end of Hauptdolomit laguna times new reefs are built up, the so called Oberrhätkalk. Wasserwand and its rock ridges belong to this unit. It is a firm white limestone in which fossilized corals can be found easily. These coral limestones show old karst erosion features wich have been filled up in lower jurassic with reddish marly limestones, still visible in some corners of Wasserwand summit rocks.

Heuberg summit consists of liassic / lower jurassic dark siltstones and limestones, the so called Allgäuschichten, easily recognizeable around the summit cross itself.

Between Heuberg and Kitzstein you will find more jurassic and cetaceous sediments of the NLA units: Dogger - Hornsteinkalke and Crinoidenspatkalke of middle jurassic age, Radiolarit, a stone built u pof mainly siliceous protozoans, Malm-Aptychenschichten and Neokom and Cenoman limestones and marlstones. Kitzstein summit is already built up of the southern part of the syncline; you again will find siltstones and limestones of liassic and Dogger age.

The following geological section shows the units and the syncline structure of Heuberg.

Map

Alpenvereinskarte, scale 1 : 25.000

Chiemgauer Alpen West - Hochries Geigelstein

number BY17, edition 2019