This is a long hike if one attempts to do it all in one day. I did it early November with fresh snow in good condition, very beautiful, but before deciding to do such hike in winter conditions, you need to check avalanche risk level, specially because some parts of the track are steep and could be dangerous.

I would describe the hike in three parts:

• Part 1: from Ehrwald Almbahn until Am Brand (~8km uphill from ~1100m up to ~2100m, it took me ~2h30min). This part has no major technical difficulty, the initial path is on forest road and the later path is trail, that last path ascends smoothly, but it is on a steep part of the mountain, so watch out for avalanche risk levels before going. The views to Ehrwald valley, and the mountains on the other side of the valley (Sonnespitz, Breitenkopf, Hochplatte...) are magnificent. I met some people that were doing until this point to then turn back to Ehrwald, which I believe is a nice option too.    

• Part 2: from Am Brand to Knorr Hütte (~3.5km ups and downs until 2052m, it took me ~1h30min). At this point a whole new perspective to the north-east opens. This is the most technical part, first a gradual descent on significantly steep slopes (once more, careful with avalanche risk, the amount of snow and condition I found was good, but I imagine this area might be quite risky, maybe not doable, with more snow). The path brings to the border between Austria and Germany, but before reaching that point one is faced with the most technical part, with some mixed rocky and snow part, luckily with some iron cables and sticks, which I found very useful, given that some part is a bit exposed. After crossing the border one more opening to a new perspective: the Hütte is now visible at the distance in front of us, the peak of Zugspitze (even further) to our left, and a full deep long valley towards to the right. 

• Part 3: from Knorr Hütte to Garmisch (~20km down to ~700m, it took me another ~4h). The first part of the descent is steep but doable, about 500m in less than 2.5km. The snow was proper for a bit of jumping while zig-zagging on an attempt to find optimal path. At this point there were no steps to follow, so I made my own. The rest of the descent is very smooth, at times feeling it was almost flat. It is a long-long way to go until the end, and might be cold since the valley is shadowed all the time, but the views to the front and to the rear showed beautiful sunny peaks. We follow the river until the entrance at Partnachklamm (there might be alternatives to that part if you don't want to pay those 6 euros, but it is beautiful to see it). The very last part is flat with views to Wank to the right, Kramer to the front, and as you move towards the bahnhof, these extensive fields with the little wooden houses to the left with Zugspitze on top.