Klippitztörl - Gertrusk (Saualpe) (via Geierkogel)

Access to starting point:
A) Via the Ljubelj border crossing, we drive into Austria and follow the signs for Celovec / Klagenfurt am Wörthersee. In Celovec, at McDonald's, we turn right onto the southern bypass / Südring, and at the next major intersection, we turn right again towards Velikovec / Völkermarkt and Mostič / Brückl. We soon leave the road towards Velikovec, as shortly after the Obi store, we turn right towards the highway and Mostič. We then pass the Ikea store, following the signs for Mostič and passing the highway on-ramps. When we arrive in Mostič, we follow the signs for Svinec / Eberstein and Hüttenberg. Just before Hüttenberg, more precisely after the settlement Mösel, we turn right towards the Klippitztörl pass and the Lölling settlement. We then begin to ascend more noticeably along the valley of the Löllingbach stream; higher up, after the Lölling settlement, we gradually move away from the stream as well. We follow this road all the way to the Klippitztörl pass, where we turn right and park on the large asphalt parking lot.
B) Via the Jezerski Vrh, Holmec or Vič border crossing, we drive into Austria, then follow the signs for Velikovec / Völkermarkt, and from there the signs for Mostič / Brückl. When we arrive in Mostič, we follow the signs for Svinec / Eberstein and Hüttenberg. Just before Hüttenberg, more precisely after the settlement Mösel, we turn right towards the Klippitztörl pass and the Lölling settlement. We then begin to ascend more noticeably along the valley of the Löllingbach stream; higher up, after the Lölling settlement, we gradually move away from the stream as well. We follow this road all the way to the Klippitztörl pass, where we turn right and park on the large asphalt parking lot.

Path description:
At the beginning of the parking lot, signs for Geierkogel, Wolfsbergerhütte, Forstalpe and other destinations direct us to a path that continues above the parking lot and leads us towards the south. Initially, we walk on a wide mountain path (not a road), which ascends only gently; after crossing a macadam road, the path gradually becomes slightly steeper and brings us to a marked junction.
We continue left in the direction of the Geierkogel peak (the right path bypasses the mentioned peak) and ascend through an increasingly sparse forest. A little further on, we cross a forest road once again, then the path becomes steep and ascends among blueberries, with better views accompanying us at every step. Higher up, the path brings us to a wire fence, and to the right of it, we arrive at the cross on Geierkogel.
From the cross on Geierkogel, we continue towards the south and initially ascend a little more, quickly reaching the highest point, where on the right on interesting granite rocks we notice a summit logbox with a stamp.
From here, the path begins to descend gradually, and somewhere at the lowest point of the saddle, a path joins us from the right, which bypasses Geierkogel on the western side.
We continue towards the south and gradually begin to ascend. When we reach 2000 meters of elevation, we soon notice an interesting natural window on the right, where the Forstalpe peak stamp is located. We continue on the marked path, and soon on the left we notice a smaller hillock, which is the highest point of the mentioned peak; we recognize the peak by the number 398.
From the Forstalpe summit, the path leads fairly gently towards the southwest and brings us through a grassy and partly boggy section to the junction at Hafeneck, where we continue slightly right in the direction of Velika Svinja / Ladinger Spitz (left Kleinhinterbergerhütte).
The path ahead continues without major elevation changes, the ridge narrows somewhat further on, and the path leads us with a few short easy ascents and descents. When we are already very close to the grassy Kienberg summit, the marked path turns slightly to the right and bypasses the highest point, which we reach in less than a minute of walking from the marked path.
We continue on the marked path, which proceeds along the grassy ridge and gradually leads to a fence, along which we begin to descend to the saddle at the Eisernes Kreuz cross (1958 m), where the path from the Weissbergerhütte hut joins.
We continue towards the south, where the path forks. We choose the slightly left path (the right path bypasses the Gertrusk peak), which ascends the panoramic Gertrusk along the ridge in a few minutes.
Starting point - Geierkogel 1:00, Geierkogel - Forstalpe 1:10, Forstalpe - Kienberg 0:40, Kienberg - Gertrusk 0:45.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in August 2020.

On the way: Geierkogel (Svinška planina / Saualpe) (1917m), Forstalpe (Svinška planina / Saualpe) (2034m), Hafeneck (2030m), Kienberg (Svinška planina / Saualpe) (2050m), Eisernes Kreuz (1958m)

Trip can be extended to: Ladinger Spitze (Saualpe) ( 35 min)