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Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte

bagi9. 10. 2019 12:58:53

The Lienz Dolomites, small in scope, are located just a good two and a half hours of pleasant driving from central Slovenia. In a few days you can cover everything they offer to ordinary hikers. In appearance they are not exactly classic Dolomites and they were named so only in 1885.

A nice autumn weekend with plenty of sun allowed us to visit the peaks in the central part, nicely arranged in a circle above the Karlsbader Hütte hut. It hosted us overnight and despite the late date had quite a few visitors. The previous week it closed for the season.

The first day we dedicated to the classic, attractive Panorama Klettersteig via ferrata. After it we traversed the ridge from the climbing Roter Turm all the way to the highest Große Sandspitze and a bit further. Its characteristic is considerable exposure and loose cables with long clips. The via ferrata is not easy due to length, but the official C/D difficulty under the Daumen summit is a bit exaggerated. The next day many C sections were harder than this part.

The next day the peaks on the opposite, southern side of the hut were next. First we climbed the prominent Seekopfel peak. The via ferrata on the usual southern route is pleasant climbing of B/C difficulty, but that doesn't apply to the northern variant via Eggerturm. Despite official C difficulty, it could deserve at least *high C* velik nasmeh

. The length of this section, exposure and difficulty are actually much greater compared to the C/D section on Panorama via ferrata the day before.

Similarly it was in the continuation when traversing Kleine Gamswiesenspitze. The descent from its summit to Gamsschart saddle went along the upper part of Madonna Klettersteig via ferrata. Madonna, good thing we already put on our harnesses. Officially again just C, presumably nothing special, unofficially a solid, exposed descent down the wall with poor footholds and an incline of a good 70 degrees. Then a hop to Große Gamswiesenspitze and return via shortcuts down the valley all the way to the junction with path 12. It took us to Dolomiten Hütte hut with an interesting location on the rock and a bit further to the parking lot where we finished the two-day loop nasmeh

.

Some characteristics of the hiked paths .... cables on via ferratas are routed through all necessary and unnecessary passages, typically Austrian. Often loose, with long gaps between clips. Path signs and marks are sometimes overly frequent, elsewhere extremely scarce. Timings on boards are mostly well estimated, some probably measured by a mountain runner. Similar with via ferrata category ratings. A via ferrata set will come in handy in many places. General impression is slight confusion regarding all the above, which is unusual for such a small area. But the paths and cables are in good condition and we didn't notice any major issues. More in the photo story ...

Coordinates of starting point (parking near Dolomiten Hütte): 46.791400, 12.784259

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte We park at the larger parking lot near Dolomiten Hütte. We take the left variant along Rudl Eller Weg

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte The late autumn sun refuses to rise

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Hoarfrost has already whitened the pastures, no more greenery

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte We'll go across here. A short via ferrata leads over the rocky ridge

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Sign for Zillinkopfe via ferrata. It used to be called Piccola ferrata. Difficulty mostly A/B, a little C

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte In the final section of the via ferrata

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte View of the mountains we intend to traverse the next day … Kleine und Große Gamswiesenspitze

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Main hut of the Lienz Dolomites in a beautiful location - Karlsbader Hütte. It belongs to the German DAV and has about 100 beds

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte We set off to the northern slopes above the hut, first towards Laserzwanda

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte At the top. Space is minimal, the cross is useful for securing :)

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte We descended a bit, continued below the wall of the climbing Roter Turm and reached the first cables

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Sign for Panorama Klettersteig with difficulty assessment by individual sections

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte The start is nothing special, the direction leads to the ridge

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Once we reach it, the via ferrata mostly follows it

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte The thicker cable is for protection, the thinner one for grounding. Something similar I have seen only in the via ferrata on our Velika Ponca

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte The ridge offers quite a few towers, often without the need to progress over them

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte The via ferrata runs over several summits. This time it is Galitzenspitzen

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte It has an excellent view :)

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte The rock is good, with numerous holds and steps.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte On the ridge

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Two little figures stand on the summit of Daumen, in the background Große Sandspitze.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Steel cables with such long pitches I haven't seen for a long, long time.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte We will have to come here.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte When two are on the same pitch, finger pinching occurs due to the long cables :)

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Große Sandspitze

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte The descent from the top is not exactly harmless.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte The rock here is more crumbly in nature, the cables on the ledges are more than welcome.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte View back

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Here passes part of the descent from Große Sandspitze.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte still descending

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte I haven't seen such protections anywhere yet.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Towards the saddle where we will descend to the valley.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte View over the edge. No scree descent possible there.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Old path section marker. Now it's all Panorama Klettersteig.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte View of Laserz See lake and Karlsbader Hütte hut on its shore.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Descent from the saddle is pure scree, no sign of any maintained path. Markings are blue.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Towards the hut. On the north shore of the lake is mini ferrata Wet Foot with harder details than the entire traversed path. Hence the name … Wet feet :)

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte The hut was full of day trippers, service quick and efficient.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Several of us also overnighted. Half-board was 44 € / person with PZS membership card.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Morning of the second day. Surprisingly no signs for our Seekopfel on the signposts.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Morning view.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Only at the saddle do the first markings and signs appear. Slightly illogical.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte First go left to the summit, return the same way, then continue right.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Our first goal Seekopfel

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Sign for the via ferrata

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Here too we first climb to the ridge

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte The passages are well laid out, without unnecessary walks over every boulder

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Here too the cables have quite long stretches

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Northern variant over Eggerturm, difficulty should be C. It is intended only for ascent, meeting would be extremely difficult

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte The start of the variant is nothing special

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Then an exposed and steep ascent begins. The steps are narrow and not very frequent. The rating could be at least high C :)

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte View back to the extremely steep wall

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Descent from Egger Turm

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte snapshot

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte The continuation follows the normal approach

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte The summit seems deceptively close all the time. The ascent to it still takes almost two hours

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte A bit more rocky terrain …

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte … and we have reached the unusual cross at the summit

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Seekopfel, 2744 m

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte We returned via the southern, usual via ferrata.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte The passages are well protected, steel cables long and loose.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte There are also some wide passages, nothing difficult :)

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte A little more ascent and soon we reached the saddle.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Our next goal is Kleine Gamswiesenspitze.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte At the saddle Kerschbaumer Torl. There is no sign for the nearby Kleine Gamswiesenspitze, despite the marked path to it.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte View back to the saddle and the arranged path towards the summit.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte When the grass ends, steel cables come into play.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Difficulty to the top is mostly A/B, here and there C. There is little space on it, so we immediately continued towards Große Gamswiesenspitze.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Long and loose.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Difficulties increase, C becomes standard.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte We scramble up lying down, down over exposed edges.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte This is how we made our way through. From here on, a steep descent follows.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Upper part of the via ferrata Madonna Kletersteig, slab with about 70 degrees incline. Steep, steep and steep again.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte View from the side.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Even after passing the slab, the difficulty is not much less.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Another view from the side.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Madonna, good that we put on harnesses :) Official difficulty is C, but it's harder than the C/D ascent on Daumen the previous day.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte View back to the wall we climbed. Descent goes to the left, smooth slab.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Große Gamswiesenspitze.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Most of this we bypassed in two days. In the middle is the lake and our hut.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte The return from the summit to the saddle took place along the same path.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Then we continued into the valley along the Šodrov shortcut.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Rest after the Šoder Express :)

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Memorial wall of the deceased in these mountains. Most are climbers or winter visitors.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Still a memorial to those who fell in the war

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte Dolomiten Hütte, private hut in an exceptional location. The parking lot is a few minutes ahead.

Lienz Dolomites - peaks above Karlsbader Hütte GPS track of the hiked path.

(+4)

narava9. 10. 2019 15:36:58

Super loop! In early summer my boyfriend and I hiked Panorama Klettersteig and on descent missed the path. Instead of heading to the saddle on picture 32 we followed green marks that led us straight down, descent was quite steep and demanding, quite some hanging on cables for friction, not for short legs. According to map we descended Gebirgsjägersteig, which should have B/C rating? Anyway, for descent I recommend the easier or your Ari Schübel variant.
Path sketch

Interesting and very useful is the info on difficulty of your second day's path. Still waiting for us nasmeh

(+3)

bagi24. 10. 2023 13:06:08

Klammbrückl - Kerschbaumeralm - Madonnen Klettersteig - Gamswiesenspitze - Allmaier Toni Weg - Weittalspitze - Kerschbaumeralm - starting point

We explored Lienz Dolomites a few years ago, mainly around Karlsbader Hütte hut. This time we moved a bit more west above Kerschbaumeralm Schutzhaus hut and continued where we left off then.

To start it was the Madonnen Klettersteig ferrata, as we only did part of it previously. Access is easy and well marked, first marks already at Schutzhaus hut. Ferrata is C category, shows teeth especially in summit part of big Gamswiesenspitze and ascent to smaller namesake. Main attraction is 16m long bridge over which we cross the abyss between two walls.

After descent to Kerschbaumer Törl saddle we continued towards Weittalspitze. To it leads Allmaier Toni Weg path, marked with interesting red-blue marks. Path should have C difficulty according to available data, which later turned out to be a slight mistake nasmeh

. In final part ferrata course changed and leaves original direction. Here comes D, which requires more experience and definitely not for everyone. But this ferrata has two unpleasant features. The first are unusually laid cables for my taste, the second lack of them in some demanding and steep passages.

Descent from summit also surprised us. Already west slope of Weittalspitze is eroded by water, but we could avoid that. But not in descent gully a bit lower. It is completely reshaped anew, no path anymore, just deep scars in ground and huge scree deposits. Marks still visible on rocks in places, but no path there anymore. No traces of predecessors visible, so whole thing obviously quite new. Cause most likely heavy rain showers, as we saw similar lower on road. Followed return to hut and descent to valley. More in photo story ...

Coordinates of starting point (Klammbrückl): 46.7904583N, 12.7646350E

We park at the last parking lot. The road is long macadam, not necessarily in the best condition.

We head towards the Kerschbaumer Alm alpine pasture along path no. 10

For a long time, this is a supply road to the cargo cable car

Numerous waterfalls of the Hallebach stream. Here we will turn right the next day

Along the road there is also a hikers' path, but storms have washed it away in many places

Only a mountain path leads to the Kerschbaumeralm Schutzhaus hut. It is in good condition

First goal of today … Veliki and Mali Gamswiesenspitze via Madonnen Kletersteig ferrata

At the hut we turn left onto 213, at the next fork again towards the ferrata

After a few hairpin bends we reach the start of the Madonna

The ferrata is not particularly difficult at the bottom, but reaches category C in the summit section

The steel cables are taut, but their layout is far from the comfort of the Italian Dolomites

In many places they drag over rocks where they are useless

Sometimes at traverses they are tensioned unreasonably high

Overall it feels somehow hastily rigged, with long pitches and without proper feel

After some initial scrambling with and without cables we face the ferrata's main attraction

This is a 16 m long footbridge tensioned across two walls. Since the walkway part is narrow, it sways quite a bit

Immediately behind it is the summit log for those who made it across :)

In the upper part of the ferrata the gradient increases, as does the difficulty

On the ridge there is a bit of a crowd, but enough space to pull over

View back from the summit. For continuation we return good 100 m, then descend to the saddle.

Descent to the saddle between both summits is quite damaged, so we use poles.

We are already in the neighboring wall. There are enough cables, pulled in the same way as before.

Initial pitches in the wall of small Gamswiesenspitze are quite steep.

The continuation is not easy either. The wall is steep and especially long.

First we must descend to one more intermediate saddle

Crossing of this runs along a winding cable

Then a renewed ascent follows, this time to Kleine Gamswiesenspitze

Descent from it is for some time over grass and even steps, then wall follows again

We conclude the descent at the saddle Kerschbaumer Törl

Here we head to the cross path towards Zochenpaß pass and the next goal ... Weittalspitze

This direction also has black marking, although it doesn't count for us in via ferrata descriptions

The path is called Allmaier Toni Weg and should be category C :)

It is interestingly marked, a red circle surrounded by blue.

This is a special surprise :) Where did the D category come from???

Hmm, this doesn't look particularly demanding …

Since safety comes first, we still put on the harnesses again

For now nothing worse, just can't get used to the cable routes

Low, high, loose … nothing doing. Here no masters worked, more like apprentices :)

Several times need to step over it, sometimes above, elsewhere below

We still follow the red-blue markings. All are older and thus probably the original Allmaier Toni Weg was marked this way

In the largest landslide there is no cable. It is only lower down, taking a full 10 minutes of careful walking to reach it.

Fortunately they routed it over the steepest part of the slope. The base is hard with plenty of scree

Up to here there are protections, across the narrow and exposed saddle none again. Incomprehensible

Now we reach D category. This part is completely newly routed and here leaves the original direction

For warm-up it ascends a steep slab. Foot placements suffice, loose cable assists

This already strongly hints at higher difficulty. The pillar is quite vertical and must be climbed over

D category. Rock is smooth, good holds and footholds insufficient. Activate *friction climb* program

The continuation also serves demanding passages up to this sign. From here easier

Weittalspitze. From here one can also see where the old C category route ran

The path we will descend. Beyond the edge another surprise awaits us :)

We descended a totally destroyed gully where the entire marked path was washed away. The photo already shows a much nicer exit.

View back. The gully and washed-away scree are recent; there is no path, and few footprints too.

We pass the hut again, this time from the other side

Now we return the same way as this morning. Time flies quickly, shade is already in this valley

Cargo cableway station. Due to the damaged path, descending directly on the road

Just before the parking lot there is another attraction...

This is a 33 m deep gorge through which the river has created a passage.

GPS track of the hiked trail. It came to 18 km and 1900 m of elevation gain on demanding paths.

(+5)

bagi25. 10. 2023 11:43:14

Klammbrückl - Hallebachtal valley - Spitzkofel - Kerschbaumeralm valley - starting point

Second day we dedicated to western part of range above Kerschbaumeralm Schutzhaus hut and here rules Spitzkofel. To tell the truth this peak was for us also the most beautiful and most dolomitic of all we hiked in these areas. Lienz Dolomites visually don't have much in common with those in Italy.

To Spitzkofel we went via an unmarked path through Hallebachtal valley. At start extremely steep, but higher it eases with gentler slope and nice views. Path is solitary and trodden, nature beautiful nasmeh

. No side branches, so can't get lost. Soon joined marked and more visited traverse path coming from Kerschbaumeralm Schutzhaus hut. On it continued to summit. After crossing scree we entered higher alpine world where plenty of cables for progress. Visited also interesting 140 year old bivouac Linderhütte, then through labyrinth of passages reached summit. Nothing is as close as it looks at first glance velik nasmeh

.

From summit and past bivouac descended same path to scree, then continued towards hut in Kerschbaumeralm valley. Here too nature's work shows, as path 213 eroded by rainwater in places. From hut again took known 10 under feet, at Hallebach stream waterfalls grilled a sausage and soon reached starting point. More in photo story ...

Coordinates of starting point (Klammbrückl): 46.7904583N, 12.7646350E