Erschbaum - Große Kinigat / Monte Cavallino (Klettersteig)

Access to the starting point:
From Kranjska Gora via the Koren saddle to Austria, where at the first major junction continue left towards Podkloštro / Arnoldstein and Trbiz / Tarvisio. At the end of Podklošter, signs for Šmohor / Hermagor direct you to the right on the regional road, which takes you past the town to the end of the Ziljska valley, or more precisely to Kötschach-Mauthen, where you turn right towards Oberdrauburg. The road continues over the Gailbergsattel Alpine pass (982 m), after which you descend into the above-mentioned town. After crossing a bridge over the River Drava, turn left towards Lienz. At the main roundabout in Lienz, turn left towards Sillian and Itali. A few kilometres before Sillian, at Tassenbach, turn left towards Kartitsch in the direction of the Upper Zillertal/Tiroler Gailtal. Continue through Kartitsch and then turn right at Erschbaum down a narrow road which, after a short descent, crosses a wooden bridge and leads to a junction of forest roads. There is also a parking lot in front of the crossroads near the sawmill.

Path description:
From the starting point, continue along the road and at the crossroads turn left after the signs "Erschbaumertal, Zum Klettersteig Gr. Kinigat". The road is officially closed to traffic (no traffic in both directions - forest road), but most people continue driving and save themselves a good hour's walk.
The road is initially quite gentle and runs through the forest to the east. At the crossroads, follow the signs for Erschbaumertal and Große Kinigat. The road then turns right to the south and runs mostly uphill along the stream. Higher up, the forest becomes thinner and a view opens up towards the Kleine and Große Kinigat peaks.
At the end of the Erschbaumertal valley, where there is also a small parking lot, the road ends and we continue slightly left on the footpath. Here the path climbs slightly steeper through a larch forest and leads to the crossroads at Tscharrhütte.
Continue left after the signs "Gr. Kinigat", and to the right the path leads to the Obstansersee Hütte. The path below is again slightly sloping and leads to another crossroads.
An easier path leads straight on to Große Kinigat, and we turn right after the signs "Zum Klettersteig Gr. Kinigat". Further on, our route is marked with red dots and is slightly less well trodden. The path then soon turns slightly to the right and starts to climb steeply on scree. This path then leads us to the entrance to the climbing part of the route.
Here it is essential to equip yourself with a helmet and self-belay gear, and climbing gloves are recommended.
The climbing route is already extremely difficult in the initial part and climbs almost vertically a few times on relatively smooth slabs (difficulty D). Further on, the difficulty alternates between C/D and D. After a vertical climb, where we are helped by the rare crags (D), the route becomes a shade easier (B) and leads to Kartitscherköpfl, where there is the first suitable resting place.
From here, the path briefly climbs vertically again from a narrow notch (D), then becomes slightly less steep and climbs along the ridge for most of the time (B). In between, the path climbs a shade steeper again and then leads to the west side of the ridge, where a view opens up towards the summit of Kleine Kinigat. Here the route crosses exposed slopes (difficulty up to C) and leads us again to the east side of the ridge where the climbing route soon ends. The path then climbs the scree and leads us to a crossroads where we join the western path from the right via the Pfannspitze peak. At the signposts, continue left and after a short climb, you can see the summit of Große Kinigat. The eastern path then joins from the right and there is only a short climb to the summit.
The route described here is extremely difficult and is only suitable for experienced mountaineers with sufficient strength in their arms and the obligatory self-guidance.
The shortest way to descend is to follow the path that goes around the summit on the east side and then descends into the Erschbaumertal valley (difficulty A/B). Alternatively, you can continue west from the summit and descend via the Pfannspitze summit and the Rosskopftörl saddle (difficulty A/B).

On the way: Tscharrhütte (1935m), Kartitscherköpfl (2290m)

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