Preiner Gscheid - Ottohaus (Rax) (via Preiner Wand)

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 and continue driving on the expressway S35. From the expressway 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 reaching the mentioned settlement we turn right in the settlement Kapellen towards the pass Preiner Gscheid. When we arrive at the mentioned pass we park in a larger paid parking lot. Parking fee in June 2025 was 4 euros for 24 hours.

Route 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.
In the direction straight across the macadam road, the path continues towards the hut Ludwighaus, but we turn right towards the hut Waxriegelhaus and continue walking on the macadam road, which crosses a torrent. After the torrent, we turn left onto a footpath, along which we diagonally ascend to the hut Waxriegelhaus.
We bypass the hut on the lower right side, then turn left towards Neue Seehütte, following the Göbl-Kühn-Steig path. First we cross a pasture fence, after which the path initially descends slightly. Next comes a traverse to the right, where the path leads us past several junctions, but we continue straight ahead, or slightly left towards Neue Seehütte.
Further on, the path gradually becomes steeper, and the slope we are mostly traversing diagonally to the right also gets steeper. Higher up, the forest is gradually replaced by dwarf pine. With fine views, we also cross several wider grassy gullies. When the slope flattens out, a short descent follows and we reach a small valley where Neue Seehütte is situated.
We continue between the hut and the auxiliary building and quickly walk to the marked junction on Königsshutssattel, where we turn right towards Preiner Wand and Ottohaus (left leads to Karl-Ludwig-Haus). A moderate ascent follows along a wide path that brings us in a few minutes to the place where a path branches off slightly right down into the valley at the foot of the Preiner Wand walls (several climbing routes branch off from it towards the summit), we continue slightly left and soon reach the next marked junction, from where we head towards Ottohaus via the summit of Preiner Wand (straight ahead leads to Ottohaus via the Seeweg path).
A shorter, rockier section follows, then through a belt of dwarf pine we reach a grassy-rocky area, along which on a well-trodden path we quickly ascend to the cross on the summit of Preiner Wand.
From the cross we continue along the path leading northeast; occasionally we still gain a little height, down right the very demanding Preinerwandsteig branches off. Several more short ascents and somewhat longer descents follow along the edge of the plateau-like terrain, then the path enters dwarf pine, where we first bypass Weißkogel (1765 m) on its right side and then Hohe Kanzel (1699 m) on its left side. A little further on the descent ends and we begin gradually ascending towards the summit of Jakobskogel.
Higher up, the path leaves the small valley and moves onto the slope, where it flattens and traverses the slopes to the right. On the mentioned section, two paths branch off to the left from the trail leading to the Ottohaus hut towards the summit of Jakobskogel, while we continue straight ahead and then gradually descend to the Ottohaus hut.
Starting point - Waxriegelhaus 0:45, Waxriegelhaus - Neue Seehütte 1:30, Neue Seehütte - Preiner Wand 0:25, Preiner Wand - Ottohaus 1:05.
The description refers to conditions in June 2025; the photos are from July 2024 and June 2025.

Along the route: Waxriegelhaus (1361m), Neue Seehütte (1643m), Königsshutssattel (1654m), Preiner Wand (Rax) (1783m)

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