Mainly Maren: Weekend Wrap-Up: Partnach Gorge

I woke up Sunday morning to an unexpected surprise. A fresh blanket of snow fell overnight and left everything glistening pure white.

With such beautiful scenery, Husband and I knew we had to get outside and enjoy the day! He threw the snow pants in the car, I leashed the dog, and we hit the well salted roads leading to Garmisch Partenkirchen.

Garmisch Partenkirchen is a ski resort town nestled in the German Alps just an hour outside of Munich. It is one of our favorite day tripdestinations no matter the season!

Icicles Hanging Over the Mountainside

I call these my Michael Jackson snow pants.

Our last visit was in June when Husband’s parents came into town for his birthday. We spent the day exploring the highest point in Germany, Zugspitz, and then took things down low with a hike through the Partnach Gorge.

Frozen Ice

Nearly a year ago Husband and I visited another gorge, Breitachklamm, during the winter and were amazed at the frozen waterfalls. When we toured Partnach Gorge in the summertime we knew we had to get back there during the colder months.

To reach the Partnach Gorge, we took a 20 minute slippery walk up a farm road nestled in a valley. Luckily, neither one of us ate it but there were several moments of balancing acts I can only describe as ballet moves on ice. The splits might have been easy 15 years ago…but things are much different these days!

In a fictional life, I run a B&B out of this historic, now dilapidated inn.

Shelby Dog came along with us for the hike. We all need the exercise! This is her second time visiting a gorge and she did just fine with the steep cliffs and rushing water. She kept close to the mountainside and obeyed when other dogs came up on our path. Her biggest treat was running like a mad women in an open field covered in a week’s worth of snow.

Love spending time with these two!

Rushing Water

Our entire hike to and from and inside the gorge took about two hours.

Afterwards, we stopped by inside the old ski stadium from the 1936 Winter Olympics. It was really neat to see the arena covered in snow and there is a bunch of new renovations taking place. Seeing the ski jump in person is always astonishing to see just how high up those athletes jump from.