The older, now out-of-print editions of the Alpine Club Guide (Alpenvereinsführer) for the Allgäu Alps state that the mountain was first climbed a long time ago. A shepherd's boy from Hinterhornbach is said to have already climbed it as early as 1767. In 1818, the surveyors supposedly found a ruined cairn at the top. The first ascent was at least as long ago as 1818, when the Allgäu Alps were surveyed and the Hochvogel summit was used as a triangulation point. However, when a man named Trobitius from Kempten climbed the peak in 1832, some of his fellow townsfolk refused to believe him as the mountain was still considered unclimbable by many.