Preiner Gscheid - Heukuppe (Rax) (Schlangenweg)

Access to starting point:
From the border crossing Šentilj we continue driving on the highway towards Gradec / Graz and forward towards Linz and Salzburg. We soon leave Highway A9 and continue driving slightly to the right towards Vienna/Wien, proceeding on Highway S35. From this highway, we then merge onto Highway S6, still following the signs for Vienna. We leave the highway at the Mürzzuschlag-West exit, then follow the road to the city center, from where we follow signs for the settlement Neuberg an der Mürz. Before we reach the mentioned settlement, we turn right in the settlement Kapellen toward the mountain pass Preiner Gscheid. When we arrive at the mentioned mountain pass, we park in a larger paid parking lot. The parking fee in July 2024 was 4 euros for 24 hours.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we head north, following the signs for mountain huts Waxriegelhaus, Neue Hüttee, and Karl Ludwighaus. The path initially follows a macadam road, then continues on a footpath mostly through the forest, occasionally crossing the macadam road.
Higher up, the path splits, and we continue straight (to the right, the road passes the spring Helenenquelle). A little further, we cross the road again, then turn right and begin ascending through an increasingly sparse forest, soon reaching the grassy slopes of the mountain pasture Gflöz Alm, where the path splits again behind a large rock.
Straight across the macadam road, the path continues toward the mountain hut Ludwighaus, while to the right, a path branches off toward the mountain hut Waxriegelhaus.
We continue straight toward the mountain hut Karl-Ludwig-Haus and ascend to the upper edge of the mountain pasture, where the path turns left into the forest, but we continue right.
We continue the ascent along the Schlangenweg path, which translates to "snake path," moderately to steeply ascending through a band of bushes and dwarf pines. A little further, a longer, more demanding path, Karl Kantner Steig, branches off to the left from our path, crossing it again higher up. We continue on the wider, technically easy path, which winds through a few hairpin turns on occasionally steeper slopes. Higher up, a longer diagonal ascent to the left follows, passing below the Törl saddle (1768 meters) onto shadier and steeper slopes. Here, we cross the previously mentioned demanding path. Our path turns slightly to the right a little further and begins ascending steeply in short zigzags. After a few minutes of steep ascent, the path and slope level out, and we already see the mountain hut Karl-Ludwig-Haus ahead, with only a few dozen steps remaining.
From the mountain hut, we head west on the path toward the summit of Heukuppe. The gentle path splits a little further on.
We choose the slightly left path (straight toward Heukuppe via Schneegraben), which begins ascending through a band of sparse dwarf pines. The dwarf pines soon end, and the path moderately ascends to an indistinct saddle on the southeastern ridge of the peak Heukuppe, where a marked crossroads is located.
We continue slightly to the right, gently to moderately ascending along an increasingly scenic ridge, following this path to the monument at the mountain's summit.
Starting point - Karl-Ludwig-Haus 2:00, Karl-Ludwig-Haus - Heukuppe 0:35.
The description and pictures refer to the condition in July 2024.

On the way: Karl-Ludwig-Haus (1804m)