Klippitztörl - Zirbitzkogelhütte

Access to starting point:
a) Over the Ljubelj border crossing we drive into Austria and follow the signs for Klagenfurt am Wörthersee. In Celovec at McDonalds we go right on the south bypass road / Südring, and at the next larger crossroad we go once again right in the direction towards Velikovec / Völkermarkt and Mostič / Brückl. The road towards Velikovec we soon leave because a little after the store Obi we turn right in the direction of highway and Mostič. Further, we go past the store Ikea, where we follow the signs for Mostič and we go past the turn-offs to the highway. When we get to Mostič we follow the signs for Svinec / Eberstein and Hüttenberg. Still before Hüttenberg, more precisely after the settlement Mösel we turn right towards the mountain pass Klippitztörl and settlement Lölling. Further, we start considerably ascending through the valley of the stream Löllingbach, and higher after the settlement Lölling, we gradually go away also from the stream. We follow this road all the way to mountain pass Klippitztörl, where we turn right and we park on a larger asphalt parking lot.
B) We cross into Austria via the border crossings Jezerski Vrh, Holmec or Vič, then follow the signs for Velikovec / Völkermarkt, and from there the signs for Mostič / Brückl. When we get to Mostič we follow the signs for Svinec / Eberstein and Hüttenberg. Still before Hüttenberg, more precisely after the settlement Mösel we turn right towards the mountain pass Klippitztörl and settlement Lölling. Further, we start considerably ascending through the valley of the stream Löllingbach, and higher after the settlement Lölling, we gradually go away also from the stream. We follow this road all the way to mountain pass Klippitztörl, where we turn right and we park on a 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, but after a good 2 km we leave it and turn left towards the Klippitztörl pass. This is followed by approximately 15 km of ascending asphalt road, which we follow past the Naturfreundehaus cottage up to the Klippitztörl pass, where we turn left onto the asphalt parking area and park in a suitable spot.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we head north, where we first carefully cross the main road and then continue on the footpath following the signs for Zirbitzkogel and Hohenwart. At first, we ascend diagonally through the forest. When we reach a cart track, we gradually begin descending diagonally. Lower down, we reach a macadam road, which we follow to the right. A little further on, we turn right onto a footpath that climbs above the road. After a short ascent, we reach another cart track, which we follow to the right. Next, we walk for a while along the cart track, from which we several times get a view of the rather distant Zirbitzkogel. We then gradually arrive on the slopes of Hohenwart, where at several junctions we continue straight or keep to the left marked paths that have signs for Zirbitzkogel.
After a longer traverse, we reach the northern ridge of Hohenwart, from where we start descending more noticeably while continuing to keep left at the junctions. Further on, we walk for some time along a pasture. When looking to the right, a view opens towards the Packalpe mountain group. When the path lower down stops descending, we cross a somewhat wider macadam road.
We continue following the signs for Zirbitzkogel. After a short ascent, we return into the forest, which begins to thin out higher up. A little further on, we ascend moderately along a panoramic clearing. With beautiful views that extend all the way to the Julian Alps, we return into sparse forest. We pass an interesting hunting observatory and then continue easily along a gentle, indistinct ridge, where we almost imperceptibly reach the summit of Angerlkogel, which we recognize by the trigonometric point.
A little further from the highest point of the peak we leave the forest and with a glance to the left side a view opens up that reaches all the way to Triglav and even further to the Italian mountains, while we start descending along a grassy slope towards a smaller saddle, where we cross a macadam road and then continue the ascent on a marked path in the direction of the mountain hut Feldalmhütte. Next follows an easy ascent, at first still through sparse forest, higher up along a gentle grassy slope, with the path leading us slightly to the right of the ridge of Pressner Alpe. A little further ahead, among the blueberry bushes the path completely flattens and we arrive at the cross Pfannegger Kreuz, where the marked path turns right.
We continue right along a cart track that gradually widens into a poorer road, which mostly descends gently while traversing the slopes to the right. A little further on, the path turns left and quickly brings us to the hut Feldalmhütte.
We bypass the cottage on the upper left side, then turn left from the road onto a footpath following the signs for St. Martiner Hütte and Zirbitzkogel, and ascend diagonally across the northeastern slopes of the peak Zöhrerkogel. A few minutes further on, we reach the northeastern ridge of the mentioned peak and at the same time a poor macadam road; we merely cross the ridge (left along the ridge of Zöhrerkogel 20 minutes) and continue walking along the gently sloping road. Later we leave the poor road and head slightly left onto a footpath, which we follow diagonally to the northwestern ridge of the peak Zöhrerkogel (here an unmarked path joins from the left, leading over the mentioned peak).
We continue to the other side of the ridge and keep following the signs for St. Martiner Hütte; the path ahead descends diagonally to the left. Lower down, where the path temporarily stops descending, we pass three crosses, then continue along a panoramic slope which offers a beautiful view of the nearby Gurktal Alps, until we reach St. Martiner Hütte.
We bypass the cottage and the auxiliary building on the left side, then cross a pasture fence and easily ascend over the last part of the pasture into the forest. In the forest as well, we continue for some time with an easy diagonal ascent to the left, following the blazes at several junctions. When we leave the forest the path flattens; after a cross we begin descending towards a junction near Stoanahütte.
From the junction we continue straight in the direction of Zirbitzkogel (right Stoanahütte 3 minutes; it is also possible to continue towards Zirbitzkogel past the hut, which adds only a few minutes) and at first ascend moderately, then steeply higher up; in addition to the classic Austrian blazes, winter markers also appear in the form of red poles. This is followed by approximately 30 minutes of fairly steep ascent; when we reach the elongated southern ridge of Fuchskogel higher up, the path flattens and increasingly beautiful views open up in all directions. Later the path flattens even more, and from the right joins another path that leads past Wildsee, starting from Waldheimhütte.
The path ahead ascends moderately; looking to the right, a beautiful view of lake Wildsee soon opens up. A little further on, the path flattens again and we reach a junction where a fairly short path branches off to the right to the summit of Fuchskogel (about 3 minutes). We continue left towards Zirbitzkogel.
The path gradually transitions onto a partly grassy ridge that connects Fuchskogel with Zirbitzkogel. At first we descend gently, then gradually begin to ascend along the southern ridge of Zirbitzkogel, where a path coming from the left joins us – the one that starts at Tonnerhütte.
We continue straight towards Zirbitzkogel (left Tonnerhütte, right lake Lavantsee) and follow the ridge. At first the ascent is still moderate, then come a few shorter steeper sections. As we approach the summit, the path leaves the ridge to the right, then in a traversing ascent reaches a cart track where the regular path from Waldheimhütte joins from the right.
We continue the ascent along the cart track, which quickly brings us to Zirbitzkogelhütte.
The 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.

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