Lienzer Dolomitenhütte - Schöttnerspitze

Access to starting point:
Through the Karawanks Tunnel, we drive into Austria, then 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 settlement Unterdorf), we will notice signs for the mountain hut Lienzer Dolomitenhütte, which direct us left onto a local road. The road then crosses the Drava/Drau River 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 junction, where we continue left in the direction of "Lienzer Dolomitenhütte". This road, which starts to ascend more steeply, we then follow to the large parking lot near the mentioned mountain hut. The road is subject to a toll (July 2009 7€).
To Lienz we can also come if, instead of through the Drau Valley, we drive through the Gail Valley (Korensko sedlo, Hermagor, pass Ziljsko sedlo/Gailbergsattel); in this case, we arrive in the Drau Valley at the settlement Oberdrauburg.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we continue on the road, by 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 - highest is Spitzkofel 2717 m), which is exposed to falling rocks in the initial part. The road then crosses a short stretch of forest and brings us to the indistinct saddle Premstall (1625 m), where there is a smaller junction.
We continue straight past the trough with water (left upwards Weißtein Alm) on the road, which after a few minutes of further walking brings us to the smaller alpine pasture Instein Alm, on which we notice a smaller 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 ascending 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 smaller wooden shelter. At the shelter, we leave the road again and continue the ascent through a gentle high-alpine valley surrounded by high peaks. The gentle path, which runs along the torrent stream, higher turns to the right and ascends more steeply for a short time. We follow this panoramic path all the way to the mountain hut Karlsbader Hütte (near the hut is also Laserzsee lake), which we reach after a few minutes of further walking.
We can also reach the hut via the mountain road.
From the hut we descend a few tens of meters on the road, then notice numerous mountain signposts, which direct us right onto a footpath. Already after a few steps of further walking the path splits into two parts. We continue left in the direction of "Roter Turm and Laserzwand" (right Sandspitzen) on the path, which first ascends gently, then crosses the slopes to the left. After a few minutes of easy walking, the path ascends steeply and passes onto the very steep slopes of Kleine (Small) Laserzwand. There follows 15 minutes of steep ascent on an occasionally exposed slope (besides the risk of slipping there is also a very high risk of falling rocks), then the path levels out slightly (here from the right joins an unmarked but less steep path, which ascends over extensive scree). We continue on a somewhat less but still quite steep path, which higher brings us below the steep walls of Roter Turm, where we arrive at a poorly marked junction. We continue left (straight steeply upwards Roter Turm) on the path, which almost completely levels out and brings us after a few steps of further walking to the saddle between Kleine Laserzwand on the left and Schöttnerspitze on the right (on the latter we notice a small cross).
On the saddle, we continue sharply right on the marked path, which we follow for only a few tens of steps. Just a few meters before the memorial plaque, on the right side we will notice a nicely followable but relatively steep path, on which we ascend below the summit pillar of the mountain. From the foot of the pillar we step somewhat to the right side, where we notice a somewhat easier but still difficult passage to the summit. After approximately 15 m of free climbing on the summit pillar we step onto the small and precipitous summit.

On the way: Instein Alm (1669m), Karlsbader Hütte (2261m)