№34 — Großer Sonnstein
My big trip this year will be to Tanzania in September. Since my friends and I are ambitious, our goal is to not only see some animals and chill on the beach in Zanzibar, but also climb Mt. Kilimanjaro via the Rongai route. To avoid spending a lot of money but not reaching the summit, I am now hiking as much as possible — this week’s goal was the “Großer Sonnstein”.
There are actually two peaks bearing the name “Sonnstein” and both are in close vincinity of each other. I have climbed the smaller one multiple times, both in summer with great views of the lake and in winter with zero visibility due to fog. During all this time, however, I have never tried its bigger brother.
Tim, Silia and I started out at a moderate pace, reaching the saddle after roughly 45 minutes. We decided to go for the taller peak first and turned right. We hiked up and down for a while but then the path turned downwards for a long time. Luckily, we encountered two nice hikers who assured us that this is the right way. We continued through some woods, found the correct way and climbed the last few meters to reach the peak of “Großer Sonnstein”.
After a quick snack and some celebratory pictures we quickly decided it was too cold to linger around — the wind was quite strong — and returned back to the saddle. Since we were not that tired yet and lunch was still two hours away, we decided to quickly hit up the smaller peak as well.
After roughly two hours we were back at the car and I finally climbed the bigger of the two Sonnstein-peaks. While it was not the most ambitious, most difficult or most exhausting hike I have ever done, it’s nice to tick that one off my list. Next up: Kleiner Schönberg.
