Tonnerhütte - Zirbitzkogel (winter path)

Access to starting point:
A) Via the Ljubelj border crossing we drive to Austria and follow the signs for Celovec / Klagenfurt am Wörthersee. In Celovec at McDonald's we go right onto the south bypass / Südring, at the next major intersection once again right in the direction towards Velikovec / Völkermarkt and Mostič / Brückl. We soon leave the road towards Velikovec because slightly after the Obi store we turn right in the direction of the highway and Mostič. Further on we go past the Ikea store, where we follow the signs for Mostič and past the highway on-ramps. When we arrive in Mostič we follow the signs for Svinec / Eberstein and Hüttenberg and then to Mühlen, which is already located in Steiermark. We reach Mühlen by turning right from the main road, and through the settlement we follow the signs for Jakobsberg and Tonnerhütte mountain hut, higher up only the signs for Tonnerhütte mountain hut, where we park at the paid parking lot (4 EUR personal car, June 2020).
B) Via the Jezerski Vrh, Holmec or Vič border crossings we drive to Austria, then we follow the signs for Velikovec / Völkermarkt, from there the signs for Mostič / Brückl. When we arrive in Mostič we follow the signs for Svinec / Eberstein and Hüttenberg and then to Mühlen, which is already located in Steiermark. We reach Mühlen by turning right from the main road, and through the settlement we follow the signs for Jakobsberg and Tonnerhütte mountain hut, higher up only the signs for Tonnerhütte mountain hut, where we park at the paid parking lot (4 EUR personal car, June 2020).

Route description:
From the parking lot we walk above the mountain hut, where the path splits, and we choose the right panorama path / Panoramaweg (left Zirbenweg). At first we walk on the road, which ascends diagonally to the right, only a little after the left bend we leave it and continue right towards Zirbitzkogel. The path further leads us along the edge of the ski slope route, when the ski slope ends the path levels out temporarily. We follow the marked path, which through a strip of forest brings us to extensive pastures, where we quickly reach the viewpoint Herterhöhe, where panoramic panels are located.
We continue straight towards Zirbitzkogel, where amid ever better views we reach the next marked junction, where to the left a path branches off towards the peaks Kreiskogel (2306 m) and Wenzelalpe (2151 m) and hut Winterleitenhütte (1782 m), we continue straight ahead. A fairly even ascent follows, offering nice views; before crossing the first stream we leave the usual marked path and continue slightly left onto initially easier pathless terrain, where we follow the winter markers (wooden poles). A traverse ascent to the left follows, where in a few minutes we reach the Hirschnlackn pond.
We bypass the pond, where a traceable little path appears, on the right side, a little further on we pass another smaller pond. A steeper ascent follows, where we follow the path accompanied by occasional winter markers. Higher up the path starts to disappear, and we follow the winter markers, which lead us steeply up the slope. When the slope flattens we quickly reach a marked path, which we follow to the right (left Scharfes Eck and hut Winterleiten Hütte), then with a few minutes of traverse ascent we reach the Zirbitzkogel Hütte hut, where several more paths join.
Here we go right and past a stone chapel we quickly reach the panoramic summit, from which the view extends to the Slovenian and Italian mountains.
Starting point - Herterhöhe 0:40, Herterhöhe - Zirbitzkogelhaus 1:45, Zirbitzkogelhaus - Zirbitzkogel 0:02.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in June 2020.

Along the route: Herterhöhe (1800m), Hirschnlackn (2010m), Zirbitzkogel Hütte (Seetaler Alpe) (2376m)

The trip can be extended to the following destinations: Scharfes Eck (Seetal Alps)

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