Experts claim that this map proves that Leutnant Naus, a cartographer, was not the first person who climbed Germany's highest mountain. Naus climbed the Zugspitze in 1820 on a surveying mission, he will still be first person on the Zugspitze whose name is known to history.
The map shows the path from the "Reinthaller Hauß" via various alpine huts to the summit area in 4 1/2 hours. The experts suppose that local cow-herds or hunters explored the summit region and created the map in the middle of the 18th century. It was first mentioned in 1884 and was exhibited in the German-Austrian Museum in Munich in the 1930s. Lost in the war, it reached the DAV as part of a legacy and was re-discovered in a project sponsored by the EU, "Historical Alpine Archive". It will be part of a special exhibition at the Alpine Museum (Praterinsel, Munich) from 26 September 2006 on.
Attached photo by Crux. More photos on Speigel.de: Karte der Zugspitz.