Munich’s Most Famous Surf Spot Just Disappeared—and Nobody Knows Why

The Eisbach, the world’s most famed river wave, has vanished.

Located in Munich, Germany, the wave disappeared seemingly overnight following an annual cleaning of the waterway, leaving surfers and city workers stunned.

“We’re baffled,” Eisbach river surfer Klaus Rudolf told the StuttgarterZeitung. “I was standing at the edge with my board on Friday evening and couldn’t believe it.”

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/y2cWuE2gYYI

So, what happened? Turns out, nobody really knows.

"Today the Eisbach is back to its usual water level. But unfortunately, there's no surfable wave yet," a city official said, adding: "It's a very fragile structure.”

The cleaning involved removing debris and sediment, which accumulates on the bottom of the waterway. During the maintenance, the water levels are lowered, and workers found no structural damage. However, when the water level was raised following the cleaning, the wave failed to materialize. Still, authorities are doing everything in their power to “to restore a stable wave as quickly as possible."

Back in April, a 33-year-old woman died while surfing the Eisbach. Reportedly, she had fallen on the wave, then her leash was caught on a rock, and she was held underwater. The fire department was called, and eventually pulled her out; but she later died in the hospital. Following the incident, The Munich Eye reported:

“According to Moritz von Sivers, a representative of the Munich Surfing Association, the real danger lies beneath the wave, where several stones protrude from the riverbed. These stones, roughly the size of bricks, are meant to prevent erosion but can pose a risk to surfers. Von Sivers noted that it is indeed possible for a leash to snag on these stones, which can lead to dangerous situations.”

A tragic situation. Now, surfers hope the wave will return, as it is an historic destination in the niche world of river surfing, since it was first shredded in the 1970s.