Turrach - Eisenhut

Access to starting point:
A) Via the Ljubelj border crossing we drive into Austria, then we follow the road towards Celovec / Klagenfurt. In Celovec at all crossroads we continue straight ahead, and when the main road turns sharply to the right, we leave it a little further on and continue left in the direction towards the settlements Dhovše pri Celovcu / Lendorf and Trg na Koroškem / Feldkirchen in Kärnten. When we arrive at the motorway junction we go left in the direction of the settlement Trg na Koroškem, and when we arrive at the mentioned settlement we follow the signs for the alpine pass Turracher Höhe. After approximately 90 km from the Ljubelj border crossing we arrive at the mentioned pass, from which we begin descending towards Predlitz, but we drive only to the beginning of the settlement Turrach, where near the road sign that marks the beginning of the settlement the described path begins. We park in a suitable place nearby.
B) Through the Karawanks Tunnel we drive into Austria, then we drive on the motorway to the motorway junction, from which we continue towards Špital ob Dravi / Spittal an der Drau and continue driving on the A10 motorway. We quickly leave the A10 motorway and take the exit for Osojsko jezero / Ossiacher See; at the nearby roundabout we choose the third exit (if there were no roundabout, we would go left) and further we drive on Millstätter Strasse. On the mentioned road we drive to the settlement Radenče / Radenthein, where we turn right in the direction of the settlement Bad Kleinkirchheim. Further we drive through the mentioned settlement, a few kilometres ahead in the settlement Patergassen we turn left in the direction of the alpine pass and ski resort Turracher Höhe. When we arrive at the mentioned pass there follows a descent to the settlement Turrach a few kilometres away, where near the road sign that marks the beginning of the settlement the described path begins. We park in a suitable place nearby.

Path description:
From the starting point, we head onto the side road in the direction of the summit Eisenhut, where we first pass a few houses, before crossing the stream the settlement Turrach ends. The path ahead leads us along a gently sloping macadam road, along which we pass a pleasant bench, behind it and the nearby hut we continue walking on the forest road, which is closed to public traffic with a barrier and traffic sign. A little further, from the right over a wooden bridge, another path joins, which branches off a little higher from the main road and leads to the lower station of the nearby cable car.
We continue on the road, from which a little further to the right another path branches off towards the lower station of the nearby chairlift; a few minutes higher we leave the wider macadam road and continue slightly left on the road already overgrown with grass. From the mentioned road, after a few steps we go left onto an overgrown cart track, directed by a yellow hiking signpost. This is followed by an ascent along the path overgrown with high grass; in between we cross an older cart track and higher a worse road, then the path enters the forest, where it becomes more distinct. This is followed by a few minutes of traverse ascent, where the path leads past a mighty spruce, then past the toilet we arrive at the hunting hut Geißeckhütte.
At the hut we step onto the road, at the nearby junction we go straight ahead. This is followed by a few minutes of easy descent; after crossing the stream we continue slightly left along the upper road. Along the road we then ascend transversely amid ever better views, after crossing the next stream we leave it and continue left onto the marked path, which a few dozen steps higher turns right and ascends transversely into the strip of forest. This is followed by a few minutes of ascent through the forest, then we cross a pasture fence and shortly afterwards join the path from the Turracher Höhe pass.
We continue straight along the increasingly worse cart track, from which we soon go slightly left (still along the Lattersteig, Lattersteighöhe and Bretthöhe cart track) and begin ascending along a small valley, through which a small stream flows. This is followed by ascent along the western grassy slopes, along which we ascend on a barely visible path to the saddle Rapitzsattel, where there is a marked junction.
From the saddle we continue left towards the summits Eisenhut and Wintertalernock (straight to Flattnitz, right to Lattersteighöhe); the path, which runs along the ridge or slightly left of it, forks.
Slightly right leads the path to Wintertalernock and Eisenhut via the summit Strassburger Spitz; we continue slightly left towards Eisenhut.
This is followed by a traverse ascent across a panoramic grassy slope, then we cross a short scree slope, over which in early summer the path is still somewhat less trodden. This is followed by crossing two more streams, then for a while we continue along a wire fence, where views open up reaching to the Visokih Tur; looking back, with every step a better view opens onto the Julian Alps. The fence soon ends, and before us opens a fine view towards the summit head of Eisenhut. When after a few more minutes we ascend to a smaller saddle, from the right the path leading over the summit Strassburger Spitz joins.
We continue straight, passing a watering place; after that we begin to ascend more steeply towards the highest peak of the Gurktal Alps. This is followed by a good 20 minutes of ascent along the edge of the southern ridge, and we reach the 2441-metre-high summit.
Turrach - Geißeckhütte 1:30, Geißeckhütte - Rapitzsattel 1:40, Rapitzsattel - Eisenhut 1:20.
The description and photos refer to the conditions in 2019 (June).

On the way: Geißeckhütte (1664m), Rapitzsattel (2088m)