Tonnerhütte - Zirbitzkogel

Access to starting point:
A) Over the border crossing Ljubelj we drive to Austria and follow the signs for Celovec / Klagenfurt am Wörthersee. In Celovec at McDonalds we go right on the south bypass road / Südring, and at the next larger crossroad we go once again right in the direction towards Velikovec / Völkermarkt and Mostič / Brückl. The road towards Velikovec we soon leave because a little after the store Obi we turn right in the direction of highway and Mostič. Further, we go past the store Ikea, where we follow the signs for Mostič and we go past the turn-offs to the highway. When we get to Mostič we follow the signs for Svinec / Eberstein in Hüttenberg and then Mühlen, which is located already in Steiermark. Mühlen we reach by leaving the main road to the right, and through the settlement, we follow the signs for Jakobsberg and mountain hut Tonnerhütte, and higher only the signs for mountain hut Tonnerhütte, where we park on a payable parking lot (4 eur personal car, June 2020).

b) We cross into Austria via the border crossing Jezerski Vrh, Holmec or Vič, then follow the signs for Velikovec / Völkermarkt, and from there the signs for Mostič / Brückl. When we get to Mostič we follow the signs for Svinec / Eberstein in Hüttenberg and then Mühlen, which is located already in Steiermark. Mühlen we reach by leaving the main road to the right, and through the settlement, we follow the signs for Jakobsberg and mountain hut Tonnerhütte, and higher only the signs for mountain hut Tonnerhütte, where we park on a payable parking lot (4 eur personal car, June 2020).

Path description:
From the parking lot, we walk above the mountain hut, where the path splits, and we choose the right panorama path / Panoramaweg (left - Zirbenweg). We at first walk on the road which is ascending diagonally towards the right, and only a little after the left turn we leave it and we continue right in the direction of Zirbitzkogel. The path ahead leads us by the edge of the route of a ski slope, and when the ski slope ends, the path for some time flattens. We follow the marked path, which through a lane of a forest brings us on an ample pastures, where we quickly reach the viewpoint Herterhöhe, where there are situated panorama boards.

We continue straight towards Zirbitzkogel, where with increasingly beautiful views we reach the next marked junction, where a path branches off to the left towards the summits of Kreiskogel (2306 m) and Wenzelalpe (2151 m) and the Winterleitenhütte mountain hut (1782 m), while we continue straight ahead. Next follows a quite steady ascent, which offers nice views, before crossing the first stream a winter path on Zirbitzkogel branches off to the left (the turn-off isn't marked and it is harder to notice), and we continue across the stream and we start ascending diagonally towards the right. Further, we cross even more streams, and on southwestern slopes of Zirbitzkogel we ascend on the south ridge, where there is a marked crossing.

We continue left towards Zirbitzkogel (straight ahead over the fence and then left is lake Lavantsee, right is Fuchskogel), following the ridge from here on. At first, we are still moderately ascending, and then follow few shorter steeper ascents, and when we get closer to the summit, the path avoids the ridge to the right, and then in a diagonal ascent we reach the mountain hut Zirbitzkogelhaus, where few more paths join.

Here we turn left and, passing a stone chapel, quickly reach the panoramic summit, from which the view extends all the way to the Slovenian and Italian mountains.

Starting point – Herterhöhe 0:40, Herterhöhe – Zirbitzkogelhaus 1:50, Zirbitzkogelhaus – Zirbitzkogel 0:02.

The description and photographs refer to conditions in June 2020.

On the way: Zirbitzkogel Hütte (Seetaler Alpe) (2376m), Herterhöhe (1800m)

Trip can be extended to: Scharfes Eck (Seetal Alps)