Kesselfall - Heinrich Schwaiger Haus

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 up 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 the town of Zell am See and then for the town of Kaprun. In Kaprun, we continue through the Kaprunertal valley and follow the signs »Speichererseen«. We follow the slightly ascending road all the way to the end. We park in a free parking garage, which is located at the end of the road by the mountain hut Kesselfall Alpenhaus. The road that continues further from the garage is closed to public traffic.

Path description:
In the garage, we follow the signs for the exit and ascend 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 to the lake Mooserboden can be bought.
We continue past the barrier on the road that is closed to 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 join a cart track along which we reach the lower 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 by the way the largest of its kind in Europe and leads to the upper part of the road towards the lake Mooserboden. The elevator was originally built for the purpose of constructing the dams on lakes Wasserfallboden and Mooserboden.
In front of the lower station of the elevator, our path turns right and then ascends through the forest for quite some time. During the ascent, it crosses the route of the elevator a few times through a short tunnel. Higher up, we cross a grazing fence and the path brings us to a mountain pasture where cows graze in the summer months. For some time, we then ascend more panoramic grassy slopes and then the path turns left and leaves the mountain pasture. The path then follows a cart track that brings us to an asphalt road. To the left, the road leads to the lower part of the dam on lake Wasserfallboden; we continue right uphill on the road where the signposts also direct us. We soon reach a junction where the road from the upper station of the inclined elevator joins from the right.
At the junction, we continue left on the road, which quickly brings us to a tunnel. Walking through the tunnel is forbidden, so our path turns left and then crosses slightly steeper slopes beside the tunnel. On the other side of the tunnel, we rejoin the road and reach the dam on lake Wasserfallboden. At the dam, we continue slightly right on the road and soon again bypass the tunnel to the left onto 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 along a narrow sidewalk separated from the road by a fence. We soon leave the tunnel and the path brings us back to steep slopes above the lake. This time the slope is even a little steeper and considerable caution is needed while walking. Here the path first descends slightly, with fixed safety gear to assist us. For a short time, we then join an old abandoned road and after a short exposed crossing, we rejoin the main asphalt road. At the next tunnel, we leave the road again, but this time the slopes we cross are less steep. The path here runs over grassy slopes with a nice view of the lake and surrounding peaks. When we rejoin the road, it soon brings us to a junction. Signposts here direct us right uphill and after a short ascent, we reach the mountain pasture Fürthermoaralm, on which there is also a mountain hut and a chapel.
We continue on the cart track past the chapel and quickly reach another junction. Right uphill leads the Hochkammerweg path towards the ski area Kitzsteinhorn – Kaprun; we continue straight and follow the signs for Mooserboden. From the junction, our path first descends slightly and leads us past some information boards that present the plants and animals on the mountain pasture. The path then crosses several streams and the cart track turns into a trail. Here the path turns left and begins to ascend somewhat more steeply, bringing us back to the asphalt road. We follow the road to the next tunnel where the markings direct us right onto a footpath. The last ascent to the dam on lake Mooserboden follows. There is also a restaurant by the dam.
We continue on the road across the dam and approximately halfway across the dam, we arrive below the slope of peak Höhenburg. On the left side here is another restaurant and secured climbing paths (Klettersteigarena Höhenburg) that lead to the mentioned peak. We continue across the dam and on the eastern side of the peak, an easier path with steps branches left to the summit of Höhenburg. We continue across the other half of the dam and then reach a marked junction.
To the right leads the path to the summit Großer Bärenkopf; we continue left where the signs direct us to the peak Wiesbachhorn and the mountain hut Heinrich-Schwaiger Haus. After a short ascent on the grassy slope, we reach another junction.
This time the Max Hirschl Weg path to the mountain hut Gleiwitzer Hütte branches left; we continue right towards the mountain hut Heinrich-Schwaiger Haus. From the junction, we begin ascending in long zigzags on a relatively steep slope. At some points, steel cables assist us. The path then brings us to the central part of Hohe Tauern National Park. Further on, we ascend in zigzags on the steep slope for quite some time, with a nice view all the while of lakes Mooserboden and Wasserfallboden and the peaks above them. When we approach the cargo cableway, the path turns slightly left and especially on sections where the path runs over smooth slabs, steel cables assist us. Somewhat later, the path turns right again and only a short ascent to the Heinrich-Schwaiger Haus hut follows.
We descend the ascent path.
The ascent can be shortened by a combination of the inclined elevator and bus transport, which can take us to the dam on lake Mooserboden. In this case, it is a 2-hour ascent to the hut.

On the way: Stausee Wasserfallboden (1672m), Fürthermoaralm (1805m), Mooserboden (2036m)

Trip can be extended to: Großes Wiesbachhorn (3 h)