Kesselfall - Fürthermoaralm

Access to starting point:
Through the Karawanks Tunnel, we drive to Austria, and then we continue driving on the Tauern highway. Further, we drive through the Katschberg Tunnel and later also the Tauerntunnel; we follow the highway towards Salzburg only to the exit for Bischofshofen, from where we continue driving on a four-lane road towards the already mentioned town. From Bischofshofen we follow the signs for Zell am See and then for Kaprun. In Kaprun we continue through the Kaprunertal valley and we follow the signs »Speichererseen«. We follow the slightly ascending road all the way to the end. We park in a free garage, which is located at the end of the road by the mountain hut Kesselfall Alpenhaus. The road which goes further from the garage is closed for public traffic.

Path description:
In the garage, we follow the signs for the exit and climb the stairs upwards. The exit is at the top of the garage. From the garage, we come to the road where we continue right, where the signs also direct us to the ticket office where tickets can be bought towards the lake Mooserboden.
We continue past the gate on the road which is closed for public traffic. After a very short ascent on the road, a signpost directs us left onto a footpath through the forest. The path then leads through the forest and soon crosses a stream. For some time we walk on a relatively flat path through the forest and then we join a cart track on which we come to the bottom station of the inclined elevator. The cart track is the old access to the inclined elevator, the new road leads through a tunnel. The mentioned inclined elevator is otherwise the largest such elevator in Europe and leads to the upper part of the road towards the lake Mooserboden. The elevator was originally made for the purpose of dam construction on lakes Wasserfallboden and Mooserboden.
In front of the bottom station of the elevator, our path turns to the right and then further ascends for quite some time through the forest. During the ascent it also crosses the route of the elevator several times through a short tunnel. Higher, we then cross a pasture fence and the path brings us to the mountain pasture where cows graze in the summer months. For some time we then ascend on somewhat more scenic grassy slopes and then the path turns to the left and leaves the mountain pasture. The path then runs on a cart track which brings us to an asphalt road. To the left the road leads towards the lower part of the dam on lake Wasserfallboden, and we continue on the road right upwards where the signposts also direct us. We soon come to a crossroads where the road from the upper station of the inclined elevator joins from the right.
At the crossroads we continue left on the road, which quickly brings us to a tunnel. Walking through the tunnel is forbidden, therefore our path turns left and then crosses slightly steeper slopes beside the tunnel. On the other side of the tunnel we again join the road and come to the dam on lake Wasserfallboden. At the dam we continue slightly right on the road and soon again bypass the tunnel left on a footpath. The path further crosses fairly steep slopes above the lake from which we have a very nice view of numerous three-thousanders above the lake. The path then turns right and briefly joins the tunnel. In the tunnel the path runs on a narrow sidewalk which is separated from the road by a fence. We soon leave the tunnel and the path again brings us to steep slopes above the lake. This time the slope is even somewhat steeper and while walking considerable caution is needed. Here the path first slightly descends and we are helped by safety installations. For a short time we then join an old abandoned road and then after a short exposed crossing we again join the main asphalt road. At the next tunnel we again leave the road, but this time the slopes which we cross are less steep. Here the path runs across grassy slopes with a nice view of the lake and surrounding peaks. When we again join the road, it soon brings us to a crossroads. Signposts here direct us right upwards and after a short ascent we come to the mountain pasture Fürthermoaralm on which there is also a hut and a chapel.
To the mountain pasture it is otherwise possible to get also with a combination of bus transport and inclined elevator.

On the way: Stausee Wasserfallboden (1672m)

Trip can be extended to: Mooserboden , Höhenburg (1 h 5 min) , Heinrich Schwaiger Haus (2 h 45 min) , Großes Wiesbachhorn (5 h 45 min)