Pfaffensattel - Amundsenhöhe

Access to starting point:
From the border crossing Šentilj we continue driving on the highway towards Graz and further towards Linz and Salzburg. We soon leave Highway A9 and continue driving slightly to the right towards Vienna / Wien, proceeding on the fast road S35. From this fast road, we then merge onto Highway S6, still following the signs for Vienna. We leave the highway after the tunnel Spital / S. and then take the same-named exit for Semmering. We continue following the signs for Steinhaus and Spittal / S., and shortly after, we turn left towards the settlement Birkfeld and the mountain pass Pfaffensattel. We keep following the signs for the mentioned mountain pass, where we park.

Path description:
From the mountain pass, we head to the western side of the pass in the direction of the mountain hut Alois-Günther-Haus, where for a few steps we walk on a macadam road, then the path splits.
We continue right on the footpath (straight ahead the path continues on the road, and when the road is open, one can drive to the top for a fee), which leads us past a cross. A little further ahead, we cross a poorer macadam road leading to a smaller quarry, and then we continue through the forest for some time. Higher up, we reach the macadam road leading to the summit, but we follow it only briefly, as the signs from the road direct us sharply left onto the mountain path, which we continue on. Further on, we partly walk through the forest and partly over shorter panoramic sections, higher up the forest ends.
We continue with nice views reaching to the nearby Wechsel group, to the south we see the mountain Masenberg with the highest peak Pongratzer Kogel, in front of us the view to Stuhleck opens up.
When we get quite close to the macadam road leading to the summit, we also reach the eastern ridge of the summit Stuhleck, from where the view opens to the eastern peaks of the Northern Limestone Alps. This is followed by about 15 minutes of moderate ascent and we arrive at the hut Alois-Günther-Haus, a few steps further to the panoramic summit, which is the highest peak of the hills east of the Mur.
From the summit of Stuhleck we continue on the marked path, which starts descending from the summit towards the southwest and alongside which there are signs for the hut Rosegger Haus. During the descent, the path first leads past the upper station of the cable car on Stuhleck, then past the turn-off of the ski touring route towards the settlement Rettenegg. The descent ends at the saddle Schwarzriegel, where from the left a marked path from the settlement Rettenegg joins, along which the planet educational trail also runs.
We continue straight in the direction of Mürzzuschlag and Roseggerhaus and gradually arrive in a belt of sparse spruce forest, where the terrain levels out and we continue along the path on a shorter swampy section, where the path runs on wooden duckboards.
We quickly leave the mentioned section and arrive at the wind farm park, in front of which there is a warning sign that there is a life-threatening danger of falling pieces of ice from the plants.
Soon after the first power plant, we cross a macadam road, before the second power plant we go left and return to the road which we crossed a little lower. We follow the road to the right, along it in a few minutes we arrive at the indistinct summit Grazer Stuhleck.
This is followed by an easy descent along the macadam road, and we continue with nice views among the wind power plants. When the descent ends, we start ascending again and in a few minutes of moderate ascent we arrive at the pasture fence, which the road also crosses. Here near the pasture fence is the highest point of the summit Geiereck.
This is followed by an easy descent to a marked junction, from which we continue left in the direction of the hut Roseggerhaus (right Moschkogel and Moschkogelhütte). Also further on we walk on the gentle road, which brings us in a few minutes below the summit Pretul, where on the left side, just a few steps from the road on the mentioned summit we notice the observation tower Peter-Bergner-Warte.
We bypass the tower on the right side, then from the road a marked footpath branches left towards the hut Roseggerhaus, while we continue on the road, which in an easy descent brings us to a smaller indistinct saddle between Pretul and Amundsenhöhe.
Here we start ascending again, at a smaller junction we go straight. A little further, at the wind power plant we go slightly left from the road and ascend on a grassy path to the 1666 meters high summit.
Pfaffensattel - Stuhleck 1:15, Stuhleck - Grazer Stuhleck 1:00, Grazer Stuhleck - Geiereck 0:15, Geiereck - Pretul 0:10, Pretul - Amundsenhöhe 0:15.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in May 2023.

On the way: Stuhleck (1782m), Schwarzriegel (1593m), Grazer Stuhleck (1635m), Geiereck (1644m), Peter-Bergner-Warte (Pretul) (1656m)