In September 2006 the German Alpine Club announced that the first ascent of the Zugspitze could have been made before the middle of the 18th century. The basis of this speculation was the rediscovery of an historic map from the 18th century that depicted the Zugspitze region. On this map routes were marked to the summit region, but not, however, to the actual summit. A chronology with relatively realistic information about the routes to the summit reinforced the surmise. But the map did not indicate whether the mountain was scaled by hunters or smugglers.