höfats

The Höfats is a 2,259 m high mountain in the Allgäu Alps. Located near Oberstdorf, it separates the Oy and the Dietersbach valleys, along with the Rauheck and other lower summits. With its very steep faces it is the most striking of the Allgau " grass mountains" (''Grasberge'') and is unique in the Eastern Alps. It may be compared to the mountains of the Lofoten.

Location and surrounding area

The Höfats has four almost equally high and narrow summits, whose appearance has been said in the past to resemble that of a Gothic cathedral.Ernst Zettler/Heinz Groth: ''Alpenvereinsführer Allgäuer Alpen''. Munich, Bergverlag Rudolf Rother 1951, p. 214

The four summits of the Höfats divide into two pairs of peaks that are separated by the Höfats wind gap (''Höfatsscharte'', 2207 m). Between the summits of the two pairs of peaks are smaller gaps (about 2233 m and 2227 m high). All of the peaks sit on the crest of a ridge that runs from Rauheck towards the northwest.Ernst Zettler/Heinz Groth: ''Alpenvereinsführer Allgäuer Alpen''. München, Bergverlag Rudolf Rother 1951, p. 214f

From the eastern summit (''Ostgipfel'') (2259 m) a ridge runs towards the southeast to a saddle, the Älpelesattel, and a ledge heads east-southeast, the centre of which has an overhang (the ''Höfatszahn''). Between the ridge and the edge is the southeast face of the eastern summit. In addition, a slight ridge runs from the eastern summit to the southwest, which separates the ravine of ''Bergangertobel'' in the east from the Höfats basin (''Höfatswanne'') in the west.

The next summit is the central one (''Mittelgipfel'', 2257 m) which is actually only a 20 m long, horizontal edge, which apart from the two main ridges, only has a ridge descending to the southwest that ends in the Höfatswanne as a pillar. At the foot of this ridge is a cave (''Höfatsgufel'' or ''Gufel''). On the eastern side of the central peak, there is no corresponding ridge; instead the face drops several hundred metres, partially overhanging, into the ''Rotes Loch''.

The longest ridge in the vicinity of the Höfats, runs northeast from the next peak after the ''Höfatsscharte'' wind gap, the second summit or ''Zweiter Gipfel'' (2258.8 m). Initially, this drops off steeply down to the wind gap (''Schärtele'') between Höfats and Kleine Höfats and continues as the northeastern ridge of the Kleine Höfats. The north face of the second peak drops vertically in places down to the ''Rauher Hals''. Beneath the foot of the rock face is a prominent rock pinnacle, the ''Höfatsnadel''.

The western peak (''Westgipfel'', 2257.7 m) is connected to the second peak by a less pronounced wind gap. The north ridge (''Nordgrat'') runs northwards from the west summit, which drops steeply to the ''Rauhenhalsgrat''. The ridge heading southwest and topped with small rock towers, borders the western side of the ''Höfatswanne''.

References

Sources

*''Das schöne Allgäu'', 1937, p. 117
*''Das schöne Allgäu'', 1969, p. 159
* Joseph Enzensperger: ''Die Höfats im Allgäu'' in Zeitschrift des DÖAV, 1896
* Georg Frey: ''Allgäuer Grasberge'', Jahrbuch DAV 1963
* Georg Frey: ''Auf Allgäuer Bergen'', Kempten 1963
* Volker Jacobshagen: ''Vom geologischen Aufbau der Allgäuer Kalkalpen'', Jahrbuch DAV 1966
* Georg Meier: ''Winterbergsteigen in den Allgäuer Alpen'', Jahrbuch DAV 1966
* E.A. Pfeiffer: ''Die Höfats'' in "Oberstdorf im Allgäu - Ewige Berge, Sonne und Schnee", Oberstdorf, Verlag Buchdruckerei A. Hofmann, ohne Jahresangabe
* Spiehler: In "Erschließung der Ostalpen", Berlin 1893
* Thaddäus Steiner: ''Die Flurnamen der Gemeinde Oberstdorf im Allgäu'', Band II, Selbstverlag des Verbandes für Flurnamenforschung, München 1972
*
* Thaddäus Steiner: ''Höfats - Versuch einer Namendeutung'' in Unser Oberstdorf, Blätter zur Oberstdorfer Heimatgeschichte. Heft 50/2007, p. 1847.
*

Films

''Die Höfats - Der einmalige Berg'', Film von Gerhard Baur, 2007
* Beitrag in ''Bergauf-Bergab'', about 1992

External links

Tour report - crossing from the western to eastern summits








The Höfats - Declaration of love to a special mountain

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofats
Mountains of Bavaria
Two-thousanders of Germany
Allgäu Alps
Mountains of the Alps