Tonnerhütte - Zirbitzkogel (winter path)

Access to the starting point:
a) Drive through Border crossing Ljubelj into Austria and follow the signs for Klagenfurt am Wörthersee / Klagenfurt am Wörthersee. In Klagenfurt, turn right at the McDonalds onto the southern bypass / Südring, and at the next major junction turn right again towards Velikowiec / Völkermarkt and Mostič / Brückl. The road to Velikowiec is soon left, as a little after the Obi shop you turn right towards the motorway and Mostič. Continue past the Ikea store, following the signs for Mostič and past the motorway entrances. When you arrive in Mostič, follow the signs for Lead / Eberstein and Hüttenberg and then Mühlen, which is already in Styria / Steiermark. Mühlen is reached by turning right off the main road, and through the village we follow the signs for Jakobsberg and Tonnerhütte, and higher up just follow the signs for Tonnerhütte, where we park in a pay-and-display parking lot (€4 private car, June 2020).

b) Take the Border crossing Jezerski Vrh, Holmec or Vič into Austria, then follow the signs for Velikovec / Völkermarkt, and from there the signs for Mostič / Brückl. Once in Mostič, follow the signs for Svinec / Eberstein and Hüttenberg and then Mühlen, which is already in Styria / Steiermark. Mühlen is reached by turning right off the main road, and through the village we follow the signs for Jakobsberg and Tonnerhütte, and higher up just follow the signs for Tonnerhütte, where we park in a pay-and-display parking lot (€4 private car, June 2020).

Path description:
From the parking lot, walk above the hut, where the path splits and we take the Panoramaweg (Panorama Trail) on the right (Zirbenweg on the left). At first, we walk along the road, which climbs crosswise to the right, but just after the left-hand bend, we leave the road and continue to the right in the direction of the Zirbitzkogel (Zirbitzkogel). The path continues along the edge of the ski slope, and when the ski slope ends, the path is laid. Follow the marked path through the lane of a forest to open pastures, where you will quickly reach the Herterhöhe lookout point, where there are panoramic billboards.

We continue straight on towards Zirbitzkogel, where, as the views get better and better, we reach the next marked crossroads, where a path branches off to the left towards the peaks of Kreiskogel (2306 m) and Wenzelalpe (2151 m) and the Winterleitenhütte hut (1782 m), and we continue straight on. There is a fairly steady climb, which offers beautiful views, but before crossing the first stream, we leave the usual marked path and continue slightly left onto an initially easier trackless path, where we follow the winter markings (wooden stakes). There is a cross-country climb to the left, where in a few minutes we reach the Hirschnlackn glacier.

Go around the mist, where a traceable path appears, on the right-hand side, passing another small mist just ahead. A steeper climb follows, where you follow a path with occasional winter markings. Higher up, the track starts to disappear and we follow the winter markings, which lead us up the slope steeply. As the slope flattens out, we quickly reach the marked path, which we follow to the right (Scharfes Eck and the Winterleiten Hütte on the left), and then, after a few minutes of traversing, we reach the Zirbitzkogel Hütte hut, where we join a few more paths.
Go right here and pass a stone chapel to quickly reach a viewpoint from which you can see all the way 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 situation in June 2020.

On the way: Herterhöhe (1800m), Hirschnlackn (2010m), Zirbitzkogel Hütte (Seetaler Alpe) (2376m)

We can extend the trip to the following destinations: Scharfes Eck (Seetaler Alpe)

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