Kesselfall - Mooserboden

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 the town of Zell am See and then for the town of 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 parking garage, which is located at the end of the road by the Kesselfall Alpenhaus mountain hut. The road which goes further from the garage house 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 indeed at the top of the garage house. From the garage house 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 Lake Mooserboden.
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 the footpath through the forest. The path then leads us through the forest and soon crosses a stream. We walk for some time 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 otherwise the largest of its kind in Europe and leads to the upper part of the road towards Lake Mooserboden. The elevator was originally built for the construction of the dams on lakes Wasserfallboden and Mooserboden.
Before 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 elevator route a few times through a short tunnel. Higher up, we cross a pasture fence and the path brings us to a mountain pasture where cows graze in the summer months. For some time, we then ascend somewhat more scenic grassy slopes, then the path turns left and leaves the pasture. The path then runs along 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 the tunnel. Walking through the tunnel is forbidden, so our path turns left and then crosses somewhat steeper slopes next to 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 bypass the tunnel again by turning left onto the 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 joins the tunnel for a short time. 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 when walking. Here the path first descends slightly; fixed safety gear also helps us. For a short time, we then join an old abandoned road, then 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 direct us right uphill here, and after a short ascent, we reach the Fürthermoaralm pasture, where 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 Kitzsteinhorn–Kaprun ski area; 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 the plants and animals on the 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 markers direct us right onto the footpath again. The last ascent to the dam on Lake Mooserboden follows. There is also a restaurant by the dam.
It is also possible to reach Lake Mooserboden by a combination of bus transport and inclined elevator.

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

Trip can be extended to: Höhenburg ( 20 min) , Heinrich Schwaiger Haus (2 h) , Großes Wiesbachhorn (5 h)