Klammbrückl - Spitzkofel

Access to starting point:
Through the Karawanks Tunnel, we drive into Austria, then we continue the drive towards Spittal and further towards Lienz (the highway ends a little after Spittal). Further, we drive on a relatively nice and wide road through the Drau Valley. In the center of Lienz, at the main roundabout we continue »left« and continue driving towards Italy (exit from the roundabout in the direction of the villages Leisach, Anras and Silian). Soon after the village Leisach, we will notice signposts on the left side of the road, which direct us to a narrow wooden bridge over the river Drau (direction Kerschbaumer Alm, Klammbrückl). The road narrows only a little after the bridge and starts ascending steeply. We follow the mentioned road to the parking lot at Klammbrückl.

Route description:
From the parking lot, we continue on the road which is closed to traffic. Already after a few dozen meters, we come to a crossroads where we continue right following the signs »Kerschbaumer Alm«. Further on, we can follow the mountain road throughout or direct ourselves onto the footpath, which runs through the forest and later joins the mountain road a few times for a short while.
When the road ends, we continue on the footpath, which starts to ascend along the right side of the valley. The path brings us through a sparse forest to somewhat steeper slopes and then to a viewpoint from where the Klapffall waterfall is nicely visible. The path then turns slightly to the left and approaches the mountain stream. There follows an ascent along the stream and then the path brings us to the alpine pasture Kerschbaumer Alm. Here the path runs along the left side of the pasture and follows only a short ascent on a grassy slope past sparse trees to the hut Schutzhaus.
At the hut, where there is a marked junction, we continue right following the signs »Hallebachtörl, Spitzkofel«. The path further runs towards the southwest and ascends grassy slopes along a sparse larch forest. After approximately 20 minutes of walking from the hut, the path brings us to another marked junction.
Slightly to the left, the path leads towards the summit Weittalspitze, on which we have had a nice view from the path for some time. At the junction, we continue right towards the saddle Hallebachtörl. Here the path ascends along increasingly sparse larches and brings us to somewhat flatter grassy slopes from which a view opens towards the summit Kreuzkofel. After crossing the grassy slopes, the path turns right and follows the ascent to the saddle Hallebachtörl.
From the saddle, from where a view towards the summit Spitzkofel opens, we descend slightly and the path quickly brings us to another junction.
To the left, the path leads towards the saddle Kühbodentörl, while we continue right towards the summit Spitzkofel. From the junction, the path then crosses scree towards the north and from the right an unmarked path from the Hallebachtal valley joins quite unnoticeably. The path across the scree then turns slightly to the right and begins to ascend somewhat more steeply. When we reach the slopes of the summit Spitzkofel, the path turns left and brings us to a gully. Here the path becomes more demanding and ascends the gully upwards with the aid of a steel cable. In early summer, there may still be snow in the gully. From the gully, we then continue right upwards and ascend with the aid of the steel cable a few more times. More experienced hikers can manage the ascent without self-belaying. Such a path soon brings us to the bivouac Linderhütte.
From the bivouac, we continue right along the ridge and then descend slightly with the aid of steel cables. The path soon begins to ascend again and follows an ascent on a slightly crumbly slope with the aid of some fixed protections to the summit.

Along the route: Klapffall (1690m), Kerschbaumeralm Schutzhaus (1902m), Hallebachtörl (2399m), Linderhütte (2683m)

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