Kreuzeckbahn - Kleiner Salzkofel
Starting point: Kreuzeckbahn (1207 m)
Time of walking: 3 h 15 min
Difficulty: easy marked way
Difficulty of skiing: no data
Altitude difference: 1015 m
Altitude difference (by path): 1015 m
Map:
Access to starting point:
Drive to Spittal an der Drau in Austria and take the exit for Lienz. Follow the regional road via Lendorf, after which drive a few kilometers and then take a right turn in the direction of Möllbrücke, Mühldorf and Obervellach. After Mühldorf, the locality Unterkolbnitz follows, in which the road branches left to Kreuzeckbahn (the junction is marked). The road goes through this locality and crosses the bridge. Soon after the bridge you arrive at the base of the Kreuzeckbahn station. The ride takes 11 minutes, from 605 m above sea level to 1207 m. The opening hours are approximately from June to the second-to-last week of September every day from 9.00 to 17.00 (valid for 2017).
Path description:
Leave the upper train station and continue on the path above the accumulation lake to the road, which we follow upwards. The path soon turns past a several-hundred-year-old larch tree (growing there since approximately 1770). At the same time, we always follow the signs for Mernik Alm or Kleiner Salzkofel or Großer Salzkofel. From the road we soon enter the forest and along numerous described sights and some pithy local thoughts finally step onto the road again and follow the signs on the path. When we reach the barrier across the road, we have the option to step onto the footpath immediately or continue 100 meters along the road and then step onto the footpath (the latter is the better option due to undergrowth). The path through the forest leads to the Mernik mountain pasture.
The path continues through the Mernik Alm following numerous signs for Salzkofel. On the right of the path, a nice vantage point is soon passed, then the ascending path across the pasture turns into the forest. Further on, the road is crossed, then a spring is passed, finally through the ever-thinning larch forest it reaches a pasture and the abandoned hut Mösernhütte at 1777 m.
From Mösernhütte, continue left on the path upwards, where it soon enters the forest again. The forest soon begins to thin until it disappears. Somewhere towards the forest edge, it is necessary to turn right on the path (the junction is marked). The path then ascends ever more steeply along the locally less pronounced ridge to the summit of Koppen at 2158 m, where a nice view of the surroundings opens up.
From here, the path follows the ridge towards the west. After 5 minutes, a junction is reached. Left, the path continues towards the mountain Salzkofel. We continue right towards the summit of Kleiner Salzkofel, which is reached in less than 10 minutes of walking.
Timeline of the path: start – Mernik Alm, 1492 m (50 min); Mernik Alm – Mösernhütte, 1777 m (50 min); Mösernhütte – Koppen, 2158 m (1h 20 min); Koppen - Kleiner Salzkofel, 2222 m (15 min).
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