Tonnerhütte - Zirbitzkogelhütte

Access to starting point:
A) Via the Ljubelj border crossing we drive into Austria and follow the signs for Celovec / Klagenfurt am Wörthersee. In Celovec at McDonald's we turn right onto the south bypass / Südring, at the next major intersection we turn right again in the direction of Velikovec / Völkermarkt and Mostič / Brückl. We soon leave the road to Velikovec, as shortly after the Obi store we turn right in the direction of the highway and Mostič. We then pass the Ikea store, where we follow the signs for Mostič and past the highway on-ramps. When we arrive in Mostič we follow the signs for Svinec / Eberstein and Hüttenberg and then Mühlen, which is already located in Steiermark. We reach Mühlen by turning right off the main road, and through the settlement we follow the signs for Jakobsberg and mountain hut Tonnerhütte, higher up just the signs for mountain hut Tonnerhütte, where we park on the paid parking lot (€4 personal car, June 2020).
B) Via the Jezerski Vrh, Holmec or Vič border crossings we drive into Austria, then we follow the signs for Velikovec / Völkermarkt, from there the signs for Mostič / Brückl. When we arrive in Mostič we follow the signs for Svinec / Eberstein and Hüttenberg and then Mühlen, which is already located in Steiermark. We reach Mühlen by turning right off the main road, and through the settlement we follow the signs for Jakobsberg and mountain hut Tonnerhütte, higher up just the signs for mountain hut Tonnerhütte, where we park on the paid parking lot (€4 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). At first we walk on the road that ascends diagonally to the right, and shortly after the left bend we leave it and continue right in the direction of Zirbitzkogel. The path ahead leads us along the edge of the ski slope piste, when the ski slope ends the path levels out temporarily. We follow the marked path, which through a belt of forest brings us to extensive pastures, where we quickly reach the viewpoint Herterhöhe, where panoramic panels are located.
We continue straight towards Zirbitzkogel, where with ever better views we reach the next marked junction, where to the left a path branches off towards the peaks Kreiskogel (2306 m) and Wenzelalpe (2151 m) and mountain hut Winterleitenhütte (1782 m), and we continue straight ahead. A fairly even ascent follows, offering nice views, before crossing the first stream a winter path to Zirbitzkogel branches off to the left (the junction is not marked and is harder to spot), and we continue across the stream and begin to ascend diagonally to the right. Further on we cross more streams, and on the southwestern slopes of Zirbitzkogel we ascend to the south ridge, where there is a marked junction.
We continue left towards Zirbitzkogel (straight over the fence and then left lake Lavantsee, right Fuschkogel), where we continue along the ridge. At first we still ascend moderately, then a few shorter steeper ascents follow, when we approach the summit the path moves away from the ridge to the right, and then in a diagonal ascent we reach the mountain hut Zirbitzkogelhaus.
Starting point - Herterhöhe 0:40, Herterhöhe - Zirbitzkogelhaus 1:50.
The description and photos refer to the situation in June 2020.

On the way: Herterhöhe (1800m)

Trip can be extended to: Scharfes Eck (Seetal Alps) ( 30 min) , Zirbitzkogel (Seetal Alps)