Hirschegg - Peterer Riegel (via Peterer Alm)

Access to starting point:
a) We leave the A2 highway Celovec / Klagenfurt - Graz at the Packsattel exit, then follow the signs for Gradec and Pack. At the settlement Stampf we leave the old road towards Graz and continue driving in the direction of the village Hirschegg, where we park in the marked parking area beside the main road.
b) We leave the A2 highway Graz - Celovec / Klagenfurt at the Modriach exit, then follow the signs for Packer Stausee lake and the village Hirschegg, where we park in the marked parking area beside the main road.

Path description:
At the end of the parking lot, we turn left and cross the Teigitsch river over a bridge, then ascend to the nearby church, where we turn right. We continue following the signs for guesthouse Pongratzwirt, mountain hut Saureishütte and the peak Seinerkreuz, walking along trail no. 540. The compact part of the settlement soon ends and the path ahead leads us along an ascending asphalt road which the marked trail crosses several times; we follow the blazes and signs for Pongratzwirt. In the final section of the ascent to guesthouse Pongratzwirt, we climb over a panoramic pasture, then pass mountain direction signposts and arrive at the aforementioned guesthouse.
At the inn we turn slightly right, following the signs for the chapel of St. Bartolomej and the mountain hut Saureishütte as well as several other destinations. The path first leads between two older buildings, then we ascend some stairs back to the road, which we follow only for a short distance. Here, behind the last house in this section, we turn left onto a cart track that enters the forest and soon turns into a proper mountain path. Higher up, just at a small fork, we reach a forest road. We continue slightly right and proceed gently along the right side of a pasture. At junctions we follow the poorer road in the direction of the blazes. A few minutes farther on, the blazes lead us onto a wider forest path. We at first ascend through the forest, and higher up we walk for a short section along the edge of another pasture. Above the mentioned pasture we bypass a mountain holiday cottage on our left and continue following the blazes, which soon bring us to a wider gravel road. We follow this road left for about ten steps, then turn right onto a footpath that climbs through sparse forest. Higher up we cross a few more roads or cart tracks, and then, near the chapel of St. Bartolomej, we arrive at a marked junction.
Here we notice the chapel to our right and slightly back (the turn-off to it is about a minute lower down). We cross the road and continue slightly right toward the summit of Seinerkreuz (slightly left along the road leads to the mountain hut Saureishütte).
The path continues partly across pastures and partly through sparse forest; higher up we cross the forest road one last time. Above the road we enjoy a few more minutes of increasingly panoramic ascent. Soon, on the right side just a short distance off the marked path, we spot a cross on the indistinct summit of Seinerkreuz, which we reach in one or two minutes of additional walking.
From the cross, we continue towards the southwest and quickly arrive at a marked junction, from which we continue straight ahead (left downhill to Saureishütte).
Next, the ascent gradually becomes somewhat steeper, after which we reach the next marked junction, where we join the path that starts at Unterauerlinger Hütte or at Knödelhütte.
We continue to the right and bypass the summit of St. Leonharder Alm on its right (northeastern) side, continuing without significant changes in elevation. A little further on, we pass a water trough; shortly after the traversing ends, we reach a junction on the saddle between the previously mentioned peak and Peterer Riegel.
Here we first continue slightly left in the direction of the mountain hut Petererhütte (slightly right leads to Peterer Sattel), after crossing the grazing fence we turn left and for a short time still follow the marked path, which descends slightly. When a few minutes further on we reach a grassy cart track, we leave the marked path and begin to ascend along the mentioned cart track. There follows a moderate and increasingly panoramic ascent; when the increasingly faint cart track bends slightly right, it gradually turns into a footpath which quickly brings us to the marked path that leads from the hut Petererhütte towards the summit of Peterer Riegel. Here we continue right and in a few minutes arrive at the panoramic summit.
The starting point - Pongratzwirt 0:50, Pongratzwirt - St. Bartolomej 1:10 - St. Bartolomej - Seinerkreuz 0:35, Seinerkreuz - Peterer Riegel 1:35.
The description and photographs reflect the conditions in July 2023 and September 2025.

On the way: Pongratzwirt (1177m), St. Bartholomä (Hirschegg Rein) (1585m), Seinerkreuz (1779m)