Klippitztörl - Zirbitzkogel

Access to starting point:
a) Via the Ljubelj border crossing we drive into Austria and follow the signs for Klagenfurt am Wörthersee by Lake Wörthersee. In Celovec at McDonald's we turn right onto the south bypass / Südring, at the next major intersection we turn right again towards Völkermarkt and Brückl. We soon leave the road towards Völkermarkt as shortly after the Obi store we turn right towards the motorway and Mostič. Further on, we pass the Ikea store, where we follow the signs for Mostič and past the motorway on-ramps. When we arrive in Mostič we follow the signs for Svinec / Eberstein and Hüttenberg. Still before Hüttenberg, more precisely past the settlement Mösel, we turn right towards the Klippitztörl pass and the settlement Lölling. Further on, we begin to ascend more noticeably along the valley of the Löllingbach stream, higher up past the settlement Lölling we gradually distance ourselves from the stream as well. We follow this road all the way to the Klippitztörl pass, where we turn right and park on the larger asphalt parking lot.
b) Via the border crossings Jezerski Vrh, Holmec or Vič we drive into Austria, then we follow the signs for Völkermarkt, from there the signs for Mostič / Brückl. When we arrive in Mostič we follow the signs for Svinec / Eberstein and Hüttenberg. Still before Hüttenberg, more precisely past the settlement Mösel, we turn right towards the Klippitztörl pass and the settlement Lölling. Further on, we begin to ascend more noticeably along the valley of the Löllingbach stream, higher up past the settlement Lölling we gradually distance ourselves from the stream as well. We follow this road all the way to the Klippitztörl pass, where we turn right and park on the larger asphalt parking lot.
c) We leave the Klagenfurt am Wörthersee - Graz motorway at the Bad St. Leonhard im Lavanttal exit, then follow the signs for Zeltweg and Reichenfels. Further on, we drive along Obdacher Straße, which after about 2 km of driving we leave and continue left towards the Klippitztörl pass. This is followed by approximately 15 km of ascending asphalt road, which we follow past the Naturfreundehaus hut to the Klippitztörl pass, where we turn left onto the asphalt parking lot and park in a suitable spot.

Route description:
From the parking lot, we head north, where we first carefully cross the main road, then head onto the footpath following the signs for Zirbitzkogel and Hohenwart. Initially we ascend transversely through the forest, when we reach the cart track we gradually begin to descend transversely, lower down we reach a macadam road which we follow to the right, from it a bit further we go right onto the path that ascends above the road, after a short ascent we reach another cart track which we follow to the right. There follows some walking along the cart track, from which we get views several times of the quite distant Zirbitzkogel, then we gradually arrive at the slopes of the peak Hohenwart, where at several junctions we continue straight ahead, or keep to the left marked paths alongside which there are signs for Zirbitzkogel.
After a longer traverse we reach the northern ridge of the peak Hohenwart, from where we begin to descend more noticeably, further on at junctions keeping to the left directions. Further on we walk for some time beside a pasture, where upon looking to the right a view opens towards the Packalpe mountain group, when lower down the path stops descending we cross a somewhat wider macadam road.
We continue following the signs for Zirbitzkogel, after a short ascent we return to the forest, which higher up begins to thin, a bit further on we ascend moderately along a scenic clearing. Amid beautiful views reaching to the Julian Alps we return to sparse forest, where we pass an interesting hunting observation post, then easily continue along a gentle indistinct ridge, where almost imperceptibly we step onto Angerlkogel, whose summit we recognize by the trigonometric stone.
A little further from the highest point of the summit we leave the forest and upon looking to the left a view opens reaching to Triglav and even further to the Italian mountains, we then begin to descend along the grassy slope towards a smaller saddle, where we cross a macadam road, but continue the ascent along the marked path in the direction of the Feldalmhütte hut. There follows an easy ascent initially still through sparse forest, higher up along a gentle grassy slope, the path leading us slightly to the right of the Pressner Alpe ridge. A bit further on among the blueberries the path flattens completely and we arrive at the Pfannegger Kreuz cross, where the marked path turns right.
We continue the path right along the cart track, which gradually widens into a poorer road, which mostly gently descends while traversing the slopes to the right. A little further the path turns left and quickly brings us to the Feldalmhütte hut.
We bypass the hut on the upper left side, then from the road go left onto the footpath following the signs for St. Martiner Hütte and Zirbitzkogel and ascend transversely along the northeastern slopes of the peak Zöhrerkogel. When a few minutes further we reach the northeastern ridge of the mentioned peak we reach a poorer macadam road, we just cross the ridge (left along the Zöhrerkogel ridge 20 minutes) and continue walking along the gentle road. Later we leave the poorer road and head slightly left onto the footpath, along which we continue transversely to the northwestern ridge of the peak Zöhrerkogel (here from the left an unmarked path joins us, which leads over the mentioned peak).
We continue to the other side of the ridge and further follow the signs for the St. Martiner Hütte hut, the path ahead descending transversely to the left. Lower down, where the path temporarily stops descending we pass three crosses, then along a scenic slope from which a nice view opens to the nearby Krške Alpe we continue to the St. Martiner Hütte hut.
We bypass the hut and the auxiliary building on the left side, then cross the pasture fence and easily ascend over the last part of the pasture into the forest. Also in the forest for some time we easily ascend transversely to the left, where at several junctions we follow in the direction of the markings. When we leave the forest the path flattens, past the cross we begin to descend towards the junction near the Stoanahütte hut.
From the junction we continue straight in the direction of the Zirbitzkogel mountain (right Stoanahütte hut 3 minutes, continuation towards Zirbitzkogel is also possible past the hut, the path is just a few minutes longer) and first ascend moderately, higher steeply, besides the classic Austrian markings winter markings also appear in the form of red poles. There follows approximately 30 minutes of fairly steep ascent, but when higher up we reach the elongated southern ridge of Fuchskogl the path flattens, and increasingly nicer views begin to open in all directions. Later the path flattens even more and from the right a path joins us that leads past Lake Wildsee starting from the Waldheimhütte hut.
The path ahead ascends moderately, upon looking to the right a nice view of Lake Wildsee soon opens, a bit further the path flattens again and we arrive at a junction, where to the right a fairly short path branches off to the Fuchskogel summit, which is about 3 minutes, we continue left in the direction of Zirbitzkogel.
The path ahead gradually transitions to a partly grassy ridge connecting Fuchskogel with Zirbitzkogel, we first descend easily, then gradually begin to ascend along the southern ridge of Zirbitzkogel, where from the left a path joins us starting from the Tonnerhütte hut.
We continue straight towards Zirbitzkogel (left Tonnerhütte hut, right Lavantsee lake), where we continue along the ridge. Initially we still ascend moderately, then there follow some shorter steeper ascents, when approaching the summit the path moves away from the ridge to the right, then in a transverse ascent we reach the cart track, where from the right the usual path from the Waldheimhütte hut also joins us.
We continue the ascent along the cart track, which quickly brings us to the Zirbitzkogelhütte hut.
Here we go left and past the stone chapel quickly reach the scenic summit, from which the view reaches all the way to the Slovenian and Italian mountains.
Starting point - Angerkogel 3:00, Angerkogel - Feldalmhütte 0:45, Feldalmhütte - St. Martiner Hütte 0:55, St. Martiner Hütte 0:55 - Stoanahütte 0:40, Stoanahütte - Fuchskogel 1:35, Fuchskogel - Zirbitzkogelhütte 0:45, Zirbitzkogelhütte - Zirbitzkogel 0:02.

Along the route: Angerlkogel (1774m), Pfannegger Kreuz (1784m), Feldalmhütte (1751m), Zellkreuz (1718m), St. Martiner Hütte (1710m), Judenburger Kreuz (1764m), Stoanahütte (1748m), Fuchskogel (2214m), Zirbitzkogelhütte (2376m)

We recommend: trips from the same starting point, similar trips, panorama, summit register