Pfaffensattel - Grazer Stuhleck

Access to starting point:
From the border crossing Šentilj we continue driving on the highway towards Graz / 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 Spital / S. tunnel and then take the same-named exit for Semmering. We continue following the signs for Steinhaus and Spittal / S., and shortly after turn left towards the settlement Birkfeld and the pass Pfaffensattel. We continue following the signs for the mentioned pass, where we park.

Path description:
From the pass we head to the western side of the pass in the direction of the 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, when the road is open you can drive all the way to the top for a fee), which leads us past a cross. A little further ahead we cross a poor macadam road leading to a small quarry, then we continue through the forest for some time. Higher up we reach the macadam road leading to the summit, on which we continue only briefly, as the signs then direct us sharply left from the road onto the mountain path, which we follow. Further on we walk partly through forest, partly over shorter scenic 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 its highest peak Pongratzer Kogel, ahead of us the view to Stuhleck opens up.
When we approach quite close to the macadam road leading to the summit, we also reach the eastern ridge of the Stuhleck summit, 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 scenic summit, which is the highest peak of the hill country east of the Mur.
From the Stuhleck summit we continue on the marked path, which starts descending from the summit towards the southwest and by which there are signs for the hut Rosegger Haus. During the descent the path first leads past the upper station of the cable car to Stuhleck, then past the turn-off of the ski touring route to the settlement Rettenegg. The descent ends at the saddle Schwarzriegel, where a marked path from the settlement Rettenegg joins from the left, along which the planet educational trail also runs.
We continue straight in the direction of Mürzzuschlag and Roseggerhaus and gradually reach a belt of sparse spruce forest, where the terrain flattens and we continue along the path over 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.
Shortly 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.
Pfaffensattel - Stuhleck 1:15, Stuhleck - Grazer Stuhleck 1:00.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in May 2023.

On the way: Stuhleck (1782m), Schwarzriegel (1593m)