Sporthotel Maltatal - Kattowitzer Hütte

Access to starting point:
From the Beljak/Villach - Salzburg highway, we take the Gmünd exit and follow the road ahead towards the Maltatal valley. A well-marked road brings us after a few kilometers to the settlement Malta, and only a little further to the spot where toll is paid. The steep and occasionally narrow road, with the help of tunnels and traffic lights, brings us to a large parking lot by the artificial lake (the dam at the end of the lake is 165m high). While driving, we can observe numerous waterfalls, which, because of a lack of parking spaces, we can view only from the car.

Path description:
From the parking lot by the dam we continue on the road to the signposts at the junction. We go right towards the upper parking lot (direction Kattowitzer Hütte). At the upper parking lot signposts point us to the left on a macadam road on which we then ascend. After a few turns the road ends, and we continue on a footpath which in gentle descents and ascents crosses slopes towards the southeast. On the path we cross also a few streams and after approximately one hour of walking from the starting point, the path turns slightly to the left through a meadow and crosses a stream. Here the path for the first time starts ascending a little steeper and soon brings us to a junction. We go right in the direction of Kattowitzer Hütte. Immediately after the signposts follows even a little steeper ascent and we also get help from some ropes, which are not even urgently needed. The path brings us to an indistinct saddle and on the right side we will notice the peak Gamsleitenkopf (2346m) to which we have from the path only a few minutes of walking. From the saddle then follows a crossing in a gentle descent all the way to the mountain hut Kattowitzer Hütte.

Trip can be extended to: Großer Hafner (2 h)