Königssee frozen and safe for walking

Since 25th January, it has been possible to walk on the ice covering the Königssee as far as the church of St. Bartholomä. The church is famous because it is normally only accessible by boat, or by hiking for more than a day over the mountains. In winter, the depth of the lake means that it only occasionally freezes deep enough for it to be safe enough to walk on. The last time this happened was in 1997.

The 'Ice Commission' of the village of Schönau has given the green light to people to walk to the church. On Sunday, around 15,000 people made the approx. 10-kilometre round trip. The ice will be regularly monitored for safety reasons; check the Königssee website for up-to-date information.

Königssee.com
Suedostbayerische Rundschau: Der Königssee ist zugefroren!
Königssee - Lake in Southern Bavaria, Is it worth going? What's to do there?

TT topic crosslink: Kleinhesseloher See currently safe for ice skating - but be warned, there have been fatal accidents elsewhere in Bavaria.

Hi,

anyone have an idea of how "doable" this is for a day trip and what cost is involved (Königsee that is)?

Ta very much.

Königssee - Lake in Southern Bavaria, Is it worth going? What's to do there?

yes, it's worth it. There's more info at the link. Put Königssee into the http://bahn.de website for current train prices.

There's info in the link I gave above ('Is it worth going...'). Just look out for my posts

You can go there for the day on a Bayern Ticket, the journey to Berchtesgaden is about 3.5 hours, plus a bus ride to Schönau am Königssee. The last train back is around 2020, if my memory serves me correctly. The 5kms each way to the church won't take too much more than an hour each way, so there's plenty of time.

Not sure what you mean by costs for Königssee - it's free to walk on the lake.

cool! thanks for the info! definately sounds like something fun/interesting to do!

Ages and ages ago, a postman thought he would be really smart and drive the post over the frozen lake and save himself a long walk. Result , ice broke, no post delivered and he`s still down there. If it makes funny noises, or it starts cracking lay down and spread your weight and crawl, don`t run on ice.

Did it yesterday. Funny noises will happen if the sun is out due to differential expansion. You can hear the shock waves travelling across the whole lake surface. It's a bit disconcerting the first time but nothing to worry about. The ice looks to be about a foot thick.

The Chiemsee is also frozen and it's possible to walk to the islands including Herrenchiemsee.

From http://www.herrenchiemsee.de/deutsch/aktuell/index.htm

They've put in a XCountry track on the Königssee -- classic and skating. Since Feb. 11. I haven't seen it yet but it says so on their website... we're going out tomorrow before the big thaw comes. Ah, so great to be a freelancer!

TOO LATE!

The ice cover on Königssee is closed as of today, 16.02.06. As noted elsewhere, the big thaw has started. The lake is therefore no longer accessible. The layer of ice itself is still strong enough, but the top layer will have been turned to slush by the rains overnight. It will thus be unpassable. If the weather gets very cold again, then it's not inconceivable that it will refreeze, but I would not bank on this. I was there yesterday (just in time!); some photos are below. Anyone else make it there?

Big snow melt coming - danger of flooding, Thaw due to start Wednesday 15.Feb.2006
Königssee.com

Yup, hubby and I went on Tuesday. And we had sunshine, pics in the gallery

[img]http://www.toytowngermany.com/forum/uploads/1139471585/gallery_234_503_30750.jpg[/img]

The ice has indeed refrozen and is once again accessible. Judging by the weather forecast, it seems as though it will stay open until later next week.

Do not travel there without checking the Königssee website - on the day of travel - to ensure that the ice is still walkable!

Königssee.com
Wetter.com

And closed again