The origin of the gorge

From 1910 to 1912, under the most difficult conditions and with high financial expenditure, the development of the up to 80-metre-deep Partnach Gorge for tourism started. In the truest meaning of the word, the trailblazer for the development was in 1885 a devastating windthrow in the woods of the Partnach and Ferchen valleys as well as in the Schachen region above the Reintal. Back then, the first efforts were made to install footbridges through the inaccessible Partnacht Gorge to facilitate the wood driving. In 1886, a makeshift passage could be created by installing iron supports in the steep rock walls just above the river, which were covered with wooden planks. On this Triftsteig the woodworkers stood and guided with their Grieshaken the trunks floating through the Gorge. Remains of the former wood driving installation are still recognizable today. Before then, the dangerous driving track was mainly used by hunters and forestry workers.

With the continuously growing tourism, an increasing number of daredevil tourists also discovered the Partnach Gorge, so that in 1912 it was developed for visitors as a natural monument. In 1930, it became walkable in winter too, and thus the attractive ice formations in the winterly Gorge were accessible. Today the Partnach Gorge belongs to the most impressive gorges of the Bavarian Alps which fascinate over 200 000 visitors each year.

The Partnach Gorge gained great economic importance, when the deforestation for burning and construction wood from the Ferchental, Reintal and Stuiben regions was allowed by the Freising bishops, and the trunks had to be transported – floated or driven – into the valley through the Gorge.

The water wood, as it is called in contrast to the mountain wood which is transported with horse-drawn sledges, was transported in Spring, because at that time the water course was the strongest due to the melting of the snow. For this purpose, after felling the tree trunks were sawn into one metre lengths, thrown into the Partnach and the Ferchenbach and washed into the valley. When the trunks were slammed against the rocks or were wedged into each other, the woodworkers had to risk their lives to get the wood trunks going again with so-called “Grieshaken” (long wood bars with an iron spike at their tips). For this purpose, they were abseiled on a type of stool with a little roof which protected against falling rocks.

The wood trunks continued in a branch-off which had been created by a sluice near the wood oven at the upper Partnach Bridge and led into a sandy area, which stood partly under water. Here the trunks were pulled onto land, stacked and measured by the forestry officials.

This hard and dangerous work was carried out until the beginning of the sixties of the last century. Then the Reintal and its side valleys were opened up with large forest roads, on which the wood trunks could be transported by land. Today only the names “Triftstraße” and “Am Holzofen” remind us of the wood driving in the Partnach Gorge as “Kohlstattstraße” reminds us of the once existant charcoal pit at the Triftplatz. Here the charcoal burners produced charcoal in kilns.

A quite different type of economic use of the Partnach and its alpine tributaries was, by the way, seriously considered in 1949. At this time, the plan emerged to build a 110-meter-high dam so that a giant reservoir would have been created from the total front part of the Reintal and the Ferchenbachtal. In the Wildenau a power station was to produce electricity for the Bavarian power supply. There was massive opposition against this large-scale project, and it was never realized.

On the 01-06-1991 approximately 5,000 m3 of rock broke from a rock wall at the Southern end of the Gorge and blocked off the previous walkway system and the water course. Fortunately, nobody was harmed. Due to the rockfall, a small natural reservoir was formed, and the Partnach Gorge cleaved its way through the giant rock blocks. Since 1992, a 108 m long gallery, blasted into the rock, now leads past the rock masses and the reservoir and through windows provides a view of this natural event without any risk.

Das Wasserholz, wie man es im Gegensatz zu dem mit den Pferdeschlitten beförderten Bergholz nannte, wurde im Frühjahr getriftet. Da war durch die Schneeschmelze der Wasserlauf am stärksten. Wenn sich die Stämme an den Felsen aufgeschoben oder sich ineinander verkeilt hatten, mussten Holzarbeiter auf einer Art Stuhl, der mit einem kleinen Dach gegen Steinschlag schützte, in die Klammen abgeseilt werden. So versuchten die Arbeiter unter Lebensgefahr in der Mitter- und Hinterklamm im vorderen Reintal sowie in der Partnachklamm, als noch kein Weg durch sie führte, mit Grieshaken - das waren lange Holzstangen mit einem Eisendorn an der Spitze - das Holz wieder in Fahrt zu bringen.

Am Holzhof bei der oberen Partnachbrücke (heute steht dort die staatl. Berufsschule) sperrte eine Schleuse den Lauf der Partnach und leitete ihr Wasser in einen Seitenarm. Dieser wurde mit einem Rechen abgesperrt und die Hölzer auf eine teilweise unter Wasser stehende Sand fläche geschwemmt. Dort konnten sie an Land gezogen, aufgestapelt und von Forstbeamten aufgemessen werden. Das Triften verlor erst zu Beginn der 60er Jahre des vergangenen Jahrhunderts seine Bedeutung, als durch große Forststraßen das Reintal und seine Nebentäler erschlossen wurden. An das Triften und an den ehemaligen Holzlager- oder Triftplatz erinnern heute nur mehr die Bezeichnungen „Triftstraße“ und „Am Holzhof“. Die Kohlstattstraße erinnert noch an die ebenfalls am Triftplatz vorhanden gewesene Kohlstätte. Hier stellten Köhler in Meilern Holzkohle her.