Alpl (Waldschulle Alpl) - Holta-Hütte (Rattner Alm)

Access to starting point:
We leave the highway A2 Graz - Vienna at the exit for Gleisdorf west, then follow the signs for Hartberg and Weiz, later only Weiz. At the beginning of the town Weiz, we leave the roundabout in the direction of the settlement Birkfeld, then follow the road to the mentioned settlement, from where we follow the signs for Alpl. When we arrive at Alpl, we turn left before the bridge near the Alpl ski slope in the direction of the Waldschulle Peter Roseggers forest school. A slight descent follows, and we park in the parking lot slightly below the school, which is now a museum.
b) From the border crossing Šentilj, we continue driving on the highway towards Graz and further towards Linz and Salzburg. We soon leave highway A9 and continue driving slightly right towards Vienna along the expressway S35. Near the settlement Bruck an der Mur, we reach highway S16 and follow it towards Vienna. We leave the mentioned highway at the exit for Mitterdorf; when we reach the roundabout with the old road, we continue on the first exit towards Vienna. After the settlement Krieglach, we turn right towards the settlements Birkfeld and Alpl. When we arrive at Alpl, we turn right in the direction of the Waldschulle Peter Roseggers forest school. A slight descent follows, and we park in the parking lot slightly below the school, which is now a museum.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we walk to Waldschulle; before the forest school we go right on a grassy cart track which ascends in or by a lane of forest. When we leave the forest, on the left side we bypass the farm Großheidenbauer, and behind it we reach a narrower asphalt road, on which we continue to the wider main road.
We carefully cross the main road and follow the marked path towards Pretul. The path continues in a moderate ascent through the forest, where at several junctions we follow the blazes; when higher we reach an indistinct ridge, we join the path that starts at the Alpl pass.
We continue slightly left in the direction of Jägerhöhe and Hauereck.
A few more minutes of walking follow, and we reach the junction at Jägerhöhe, from where we continue slightly left (right is the guesthouse Roseggerhof) and further follow the signs for the cross Rotes Kreuz and the hut Hauereck. A little further, we temporarily leave the forest, where the path leads through high grasses, which are often wet after rain and in morning dew. When we return to the forest, a few minutes of easy walking follow, and we arrive at the cross Rotes Kreuz, where the next marked junction is.
We continue following the signs for Hauereck; when we leave the forest, we descend to a poorer road, which we follow to the right, continuing straight at a smaller junction. A little further, we temporarily leave the road slightly right onto a footpath, after a few minutes we return to the road, which we follow all the way to the hut Hauereck.
We bypass the hut on the left side; from the junction we go slightly right onto a cart track, along which there are signs for Pretulalpe and Stuhleck. The path further crosses a pasture fence, then ascends more steeply to the area of wind turbines, where we step onto a macadam road. We also continue ascending along the road, and from the path some views open up also towards the Northern Limestone Alps. When the road levels out to the left, a little off the path we notice the hut Holta-Hütte, located on the spacious alpine pasture Rattner Alm.
Starting point - Hauereckhütte 1:45, Hauereckhütte - Holta-Hütte 0:30.
The description and pictures refer to the conditions in July and September 2024.

On the way: Jägerhöhe (1220m), Rotes Kreuz (1275m), Hauereckhütte (1301m)