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Vordere (2260m) and Hintere (2279m) Karlspitze

dprapr28. 09. 2026 19:27:57

On Friday we visited this pathless double peak above Ellmau. This mountain range has long tempted me, especially this peak with that name. When we were driving past there this year with my wife, the summits were covered with desert sand, but on Friday it was real autumn weather. In the morning all the summits from Schladming onwards were dressed in white and the prospects for the ascent were poor. But the Wilder Kaiser range was miraculously dry.
We parked at Wochenbrunner Alm, where there are huge parking lots for a modest daily price (5.00).
From there we turned onto the path along the stream and began our ascent on the Way of the Cross, which ends with the St. Anne cave. From there up past Gaudeamushütte towards the Ellmauer Tor saddle. This path is quite busy because above the saddle is the only easier accessible peak Hintere Goinger Halt.
Just below the saddle we turned onto a grassy ridge, from there up the scree to the right, over an easier rocky grassy step to another scree. Across it we traversed towards the large triangular roof and soon we entered steep terrain. Without the faded small red and blue dots it would be quite difficult to find the only passage under the roof here. The smaller overhanging jump is partially equipped with hooks, which also appear at a couple of harder places. We also observed anchors for descents and some bolts for rope protection. Under the roof the passage is to the left and up the dissected steep gully to the ridge. From there we first headed left to the harder Vordere Karlspitze. The ridge is quite exposed and without protection.
On the summit the mist slightly obscured the view for us, but that did not bother us. We saw everything we were interested in. Soon two young men also arrived at the summit via the SE ridge. One of them even knew the downhill track from Mariborsko Pohorje.
From the summit one can nicely see the famous ridge towards the highest peak Ellmauer Halt (Kopftörlgrat), which is similar to our Oltar-Škrlatica. The difficulty is also similar. In general there are many harder accessible peaks in this range, very similar to our Martuljek, but with better rock. Especially Fleischbank stood out.
From the summit we then returned along the ridge and continued along it to Hintere Karlspitze. This part of the ridge is easier and shorter.
In the end I can only write that this mountain is again one of those rare ones that have most impressed me.
Perhaps I would not have visited these places at all if they were not connected with Bergdoktor from the TV series and the beautiful views of them.