Wimbachklamm

Useful Information

Location:	Wimbachweg 1, 83486 Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden. 305 Berchtesgadenerstraße, turn into Wimbachweg, car park at the Wimbach bridge. Continue along the path for 500 m, turn left down into the gorge. (47.596185, 12.920361)
Open:	MAY to OCT daily 7-19. Weather depending! [2021]
Fee:	Adults EUR 2,50, Children (0-6) frei, Guest Card EUR 2. Groups (10+): per 5 Persons 1 Person free. Payment at the machine. [2021]
Classification:	Gorge
Light:	n/a
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided, D=30 min.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Nationalpark Berchtesgaden, Wimbachklamm 24, Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden, Tel: Tourist-Information Ramsau, Im Tal 2, 83486 Ramsau, Tel: +49-8657-988920, Fax: +49-8657-772. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1843	Wood drifting for the Berchtesgaden salt works discontinued.
1847	Gorge opened to visitors.

Description

The Wimbachklamm (Wimbach Gorge) was used as a timber drift for the Berchtesgaden salt works, for the floating transport of tree trunks on waterways. Mining has always had a high demand for wood, for supporting the tunnels as well as for smelting or, in the case of brine, for evaporation. So trees were felled in the densely forested side valleys and, since these were pathless, transported on the rivers. In gorges like the Wimbachklamm, however, there was the danger of logs becoming wedged. Therefore, simple and often dangerous paths were built early on, so-called Treibwege or Triftwege, which allowed the loggers to free jammed logs with long poles.

But in 1843, the timber drift for the Berchtesgaden salt works was discontinued and the trails began to fall into disrepair. But this was the time of the beginning Alpine tourism, and so the trails were developed into a walking trail with bridges. Tourists have been able to explore the Wimbachklamm gorge since 1847. The shortness of the gorge makes it suitable for children and people who do not want to exert themselves physically. Nevertheless, you have to reckon with steep footbridges and stairs, so it is not suitable for wheelchairs or prams.

The gorge is located in the Berchtesgaden National Park, with its two well-known mountain massifs, the Watzmann and the Hochkalter. It separates the two massifs, very close to the village of Ramsau. The gorge is quite short, only 200 m long, but particularly spectacular. It is also very different from the upper Wimbachtal, the so-called Wimbachgries. Behind the gorge, the valley becomes much wider, but above all, the valley floor becomes completely flat and is covered by dry gravel. The water obviously flows underground, and only shortly before the gorge does it rise to the surface again, only to plunge down the narrow rock gorge in steep waterfalls. The Griesstrom, which is up to 300 m wide, consists of limestone gravel and has many cavities between the angular gravel, through which the water can flow very well. Only during the snowmelt the amount of water increases so much, it also drains above ground.

This is why many visitors combine the Wimbachklamm gorge with a Wimbachgries hike. The trail leads continually uphill to the Wimbachschloss and then on to the Wimbachgrieshütte at the head of the valley. The Wimbachschloss (937 m asl) is a historic hunting lodge which was converted into a mountain restaurant. Over a distance of 8.5 km, the trail climbs from 700 m asl to 1327 m asl. You return along the same route, as the paths from the Wimbachgrieshütte are alpine in character and lead up to the surrounding mountains. The only thing you can't do on the way back is go through the gorge, it can only be walked from the bottom up, so you have to return on a path above the gorge.

The area is rightly a national park, there are many fossils to be found here, in the scree and in the rock faces. There is also the geotope of the gorge and the various karst phenomena. The large gravel area is also, although it seems more like a desert, home to very special plants that love these extreme conditions.