On May 1^st, a maypole will again be erected on Zugspitze.

The Maibaumverein Hammersbach e.V. with chairman Nikolaus Grasegger takes on this honorable task and will put up the highest maypole in Germany on the Sonnalpin restaurant at Zugspitze with around 30 people. The dance music group Tank'n Musi from the Isar valley provides musical entertainment.

The Bavarian State Forests have donated a 66-year-old spruce that measures 18 meters. The erection of the maypole begins at 11:00 a.m. and should be completed by the midday service of the Maria Heimsuchung chapel at 12:00 p.m.
The tree was transported by cogwheel train from the workshop in Grainau to the plateau Zugspitze, is painted on top and kept safe until May 1^st. Shortly before the planned transport of the tree up to Germany's highest mountain, the tree was stolen in the valley, but was brought back quite quickly.

Maypole stolen shortly before transport

A 19-strong group of locals from Grainau had observed the loading of the maypole in Hammersbach the day before the planned transport to Zugspitze. In the evening, the group then searched at various storage facilities of the Bayerische Zugspitzbahn and in the end stole the maypole from the transport wagon of the cogwheel train.

The tree was parked overnight in the forest, on the train route between lake Eibsee and the station Riffelriss, away from residential buildings or roads. The thieves came with a tractor and tools, dismantled the tree and transported it back to Grainau. The next morning (April 25^th) the thieves contacted the Bayerische Zugspitzbahn and, according to tradition, set off the maypole in exchange for a snack and beer on the Zugspitze on May 1^st.