Up the Zugspitze with Luke Kelly

 

On foot from Rostock to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 20 days

Pfeil Luke Kelly - who is he? Luke is the eldest son of Joey Kelly from the Kelly Family. Similar to his father, endurance sport is his life's purpose.

His project:On foot from Rostock to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 20 days, over 850 km, accompanied by his photographer Carlos, who travelled with him in the support vehicle.

He slept in a tent, in the garden and sometimes in the shell of the building. Food was provided by donations. This posed an additional challenge for the already very demanding project, even in late autumn.

As an encore on day 21, it should be the Zugspitze, if you are already there anyway.

 

How did I come to this?

Luke's father, Joey Kelly, asked me to take over the project 'Kurve kriegen' (www.kurvekriegen.nrw.de/) to support them. The aim of this project is to steer adolescents who have drifted off the straight and narrow and have a criminal offence back in the right direction. This summer, I was able to carry out the project in collaboration with counsellors, two young people and my colleague Schorsch Gruber.

 
❅ But now to Luke. ❅ But now to Luke. ❅ But now to Luke. ❅ But now to Luke.

In November on the Zugspitze ... Normally there is snow there, and that was also the case this time, sometimes quite a bit.

Zugspitze, Luke KellyLuke

So it certainly makes more than sense to involve a professional mountain guide as a companion and organiser in the project.

After a short phone call with Joey Kelly, who was in the Sahara at the time, I agreed to the plan, on the condition, of course, that I couldn't guarantee that it would be possible all the way to the top.

Zugspitze, Luke Kelly

Two days earlier, I climbed up from Ehrwald via the Gatterl to the Sonnalpin on my own, so to speak, to find out what the conditions were really like. The weather was perfect, but there was also a lot of snow in places. The outlook for Wednesday was promising: bright weather and a trail through the snow.

 

On the evening of the previous day, I had a brief meeting with Luke and Carlos. I still had to kit Carlos out with some clothes, but it worked.

Zugspitztour im Schnee

Wednesday morning was the start!

Start around 7.20 am from the valley station of the Ehrwalder Alm cable car. We made good progress, with little to no snow at the start.

Further up, it became more difficult, especially as there had been some precipitation the day before, including snow. My track was partially covered in snow again, but we still made good progress.

But time is still running...... a few photos etc.. Zugspitztour mit Luke Kelly After the "Gatterl" it became very wintry, Luke was still full of juice, Carlos let up a little....

 

Wintertpur mit Luke Kelly

I had to push a bit because the last descent was at 4.30 pm on the cog railway. Everything was officially closed at the top, but workers from the Zugspitzbahn were already up there preparing the piste. I knew that, as I had organised everything in advance with the Zugspitzbahn.

Luke Kelly

At the end, I went a little ahead with Luke, Carlos always in sight. Luke and I arrived at the Sonnalpin a little before 4pm.

Luke Kelly

 

There was also coffee, tea and pretzels for us. Carlos soon arrived, he had probably fought the hardest that day. Hats off to him too, of course:

Luke Kelly, after 850 kilometres in 20 days - finishing off with the Zugspitze in very wintry conditions. Yeah!

Luke Kelly, Ziel erreicht

For more information about the Zugspitze tour with Luke Kelly, simply call +49 (0)175 8676059 or send an e-mail to info@bbs-alpin.de.

Zugspitztour mit Luke Kelly
Zugspitztour mit Luke Kelly