Kesselfall - Höhenburg

Access to starting point:
Through the Karawanks Tunnel, we drive into Austria, and then we continue driving on the Tauern motorway. Further, we drive through the Katschberg Tunnel and later also the Tauern Tunnel / Tauerntunnel. We follow the motorway towards Salzburg (also Solnograd) 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 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 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 indeed at the top of the garage. From the garage, we come to the road where we continue right, where the signs for the ticket office also direct us, where tickets can be bought towards the lake Mooserboden.
We continue past the barrier 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 join a cart track along which we reach 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 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 construction of the dams on lakes Wasserfallboden and Mooserboden.
In front of the bottom station of the elevator, our path turns right and then ascends through the forest for quite some time. During the ascent, it crosses the elevator route several times, also 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 then, we ascend more panoramic grassy slopes and then the path turns left and leaves the 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. Soon we 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 somewhat 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 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 on 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 somewhat steeper and considerable caution is needed while walking. Here the path first descends slightly, aided by safety gear. 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 across 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 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 presenting plants and animals on the pasture. The path then crosses a few 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 markers direct us right onto the footpath. The last ascent to the dam on lake Mooserboden follows. There is also a restaurant by the dam.
To lake Mooserboden it is otherwise possible to get also by a combination of bus transport and inclined elevator.
We continue on the road across the dam and approximately halfway across the dam, we arrive below the slope of the peak Höhenburg. On the left side there is another restaurant and secured climbing paths (Klettersteigarena Höhenburg), which lead to the summit. We continue across the dam and before the tunnel leave the road, continuing right on the path that bypasses the peak Höhenburg. On the eastern side of the peak, when we rejoin the road, we reach a junction.
We head left uphill and begin ascending the stairs. Further on, we reach a panoramic grassy slope and the path soon turns right uphill. The path then brings us to the northern side where a view towards lake Wasserfallboden opens up again. From the right side, secured climbing paths also join us, which run along the eastern side of the mountain, and to the summit only a short easy ascent remains.

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