Lienzer Dolomitenhütte - Kleine Gamswiesenspitze

Access to starting point:
Through the Karawanks Tunnel, we drive to Austria, and then we continue driving 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. A few kilometers before Lienz (near the place Unterdorf), we will notice signs for the mountain hut Lienzer Dolomitenhütte, which direct us to the left onto a local road. The road then crosses the river Drava/Drau over a bridge and brings us to the village Lavant, where we continue right in the direction of the village Tristach. Between the villages Lavant and Tristach, we will come to the next intersection, where we continue left in the direction of "Lienzer Dolomitenhütte". We then follow this road, which starts to ascend more steeply, to a large parking lot near the mentioned mountain hut. The road is toll (July 2009 7€).
We can also reach Lienz if, instead of through the Drau Valley, we drive through the Gail Valley (Korensko sedlo, Hermagor, mountain pass Ziljsko sedlo/Gailbergsattel); in this case, we arrive in the Drau Valley at the place Oberdrauburg.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we continue on the road, on which in 2 minutes we arrive at the mountain hut Lienzer Dolomitenhütte.
From the hut, we cross the fence and continue the ascent on a panoramic road (nice view of the serrated ridge - the highest is Spitzkofel 2717 m), which in the initial part is exposed to falling rocks. The road then crosses a short stretch of forest and brings us to the indistinct saddle Premstall (1625 m), where there is a small junction.
We continue straight past the trough with water (left upward to Weißtein Alm) on the road, which after a few minutes of further walking brings us to the small mountain pasture Instein Alm, on which we notice a small wooden hut and slightly above it a chapel.
We continue further on the road, which quickly brings us to a marked junction, where we leave it.
We continue the ascent on a wide mountain path, which starts to ascend somewhat more steeply, through increasingly sparse forest. The path, from which very nice views open up, crosses the mountain road several times and higher brings us to a small wooden shelter.
At the shelter, we leave the road again and walk for a short time on the footpath toward the hut Karlsbader Hütte, then we head onto the footpath that leads sharply right toward the saddle Kerschbaumer Törl. Initially we still walk through a grassy valley, then we begin to ascend on scree toward the saddle. When we arrive below the walls of the peak Törlkopf, the path from the hut Karlsbader Hütte joins from the left. The path then turns slightly to the left and follows a short ascent to the saddle Kerschbaumer Törl. At the saddle, where there is a junction, we continue right slightly downhill following the signs “Madonnen Klettersteig”. After a short descent, we arrive again at a junction where we continue right and further in descent cross the slopes below the peak Kleine Gamswiesenspitze. When the path brings us into the dwarf pines, signposts “gr. Gamswiesenspitze” soon direct us right upward. The path then ascends a partly grassy slope and soon brings us to another junction and thus to the start of the climbing section of the path.
We continue right following the signs “Normalweg”, while left leads the extremely demanding path “Madonnen Klettersteig”. The path further first crosses the slope along the steel cable to the right, then turns left upward. This part of the path is quite steep and also very crumbly, so the use of self-belaying is recommended. The path then becomes somewhat less steep and the fixed protections are no longer needed. During the further ascent, we reach grassy slopes, then follows a somewhat more crumbly section all the way to the notch between the peaks Große Gamswiesenspitze and Kleine Gamswiesenspitze.
From the notch, we continue right, while left leads the path to Große Gamswiesenspitze. The path from the notch becomes extremely demanding and already at the very beginning steeply ascends along the steel cable and crosses over a steep wall to the northern side of the mountain. Here the path turns right and begins to ascend steeply on a smooth wall toward the summit. This part of the path is marked with difficulty level C. Such a steep path then brings us to the fore-summit from which we descend slightly, then follows a short ascent along the steel cable to the summit of Kleine Gamswiesenspitze.
The described path is extremely demanding and is suitable only for the most experienced mountaineers with sufficient arm strength and mandatory self-belaying.
We can descend by the ascent path or continue along the path and descend via a somewhat easier path to the saddle Kerschbaumer Törl.

On the way: Instein Alm (1669m), Kerschbaumer Törl (2285m)