Turrach - Straßburger Spitz

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, but when the main road turns sharply to the right, we leave it a little further on and continue left towards the places Dhovše pri Celovcu / Lendorf and Trg na Koroškem / Feldkirchen in Kärnten. When we arrive at the motorway junction we go left towards the place Trg na Koroškem, when we arrive at the mentioned place 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 place Turrach, where near the road sign that marks the start 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 motorway A10. We quickly leave motorway A10 and drive to 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 then we drive along Millstätter Strasse. Along the mentioned road we drive to the place Radenče / Radenthein, where we turn right towards the settlement Bad Kleinkirchheim. Further we drive through the mentioned place, a few kilometres ahead in the settlement Patergassen we turn left towards the alpine pass and ski area Turracher Höhe. When we arrive at the mentioned pass there follows a descent to the place Turrach a few kilometres away, where near the road sign that marks the start 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 towards 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 cottage we continue on foot along the forest road, which is closed to public traffic with a barrier and traffic sign. A little further a path joins from the right over a wooden bridge, which branches off from the main road a little higher and leads to the lower station of the nearby cable car.
We continue along 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 onto the road already overgrown with grass. From the mentioned road after a few steps we go left onto the overgrown cart track, to which a yellow hiking signpost directs us. There follows an ascent along the path overgrown with tall grass, in between we cross an older cart track and higher a worse road, then the path enters the forest, where it becomes clearer. There follows a few minutes of traverse ascent, where the path takes us past a mighty spruce, then past the toilet we arrive at the hunting cottage Geißeckhütte.
At the cottage we step onto the road, at the nearby junction we go straight. There follows a few-minute easy descent, after crossing the stream we continue slightly left along the upper road. Along the road we then ascend diagonally with 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 diagonally into the belt of forest. There follows a few-minute ascent through the forest, then we cross the pasture fence and a little further we join the path from the Turracher Höhe pass.
We continue straight along the increasingly worse cart track, from it we soon go slightly left (still along the Lattersteig, Lattersteighöhe and Bretthöhe cart track) and then we begin to ascend along a small valley, through which a small brook flows. There follows an 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 Flattnitz, right Lattersteighöhe), the path, which runs along the ridge or slightly left of it, splits.
Slightly left the direct path to Eisenhut leads, but we continue slightly right towards Wintertalernock. There follows an ascent along the panoramic grassy slope, where we cross a wire fence, then with views reaching from Triglav to the High Tauern we ascend to Straßburger Spitz, where there stands a wooden cross with a summit register box.
Turrach - Geißeckhütte 1:30, Geißeckhütte - Rapitzsattel 1:40, Rapitzsattel - Straßburger Spitz 0:50.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in 2019 (June).

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

Trip can be extended to: Wintertalernock ( 15 min) , Eisenhut (1 h)