Turrach - Wintertalernock

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; when the main road turns sharply to the right, we leave it a little further on and continue left towards the settlements Dhovše pri Celovcu / Lendorf and Trg na Koroškem / Feldkirchen in Kärnten. When we arrive at the motorway junction we turn left towards the settlement Trg na Koroškem; when we reach the mentioned settlement we continue to 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 to descend towards Predlitz, but we drive only to the beginning of the settlement Turrach, where near the road sign marking 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 on the motorway to the motorway junction, from which we continue towards Špital ob Dravi / Spittal an der Drau and continue the drive on motorway A10. We leave motorway A10 quickly and take the exit for Osojsko jezero / Ossiacher See; at the nearby roundabout we take the third exit (if there were no roundabout we would go left) and continue on Millstätter Strasse. Along the mentioned road we drive to the settlement Radenče / Radenthein, where we turn right towards the settlement Bad Kleinkirchheim. We continue through the mentioned settlement, a few kilometres further on 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 settlement Turrach a few kilometres away, where near the road sign marking 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 a 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 along a gently sloping macadam road, along which we pass a pleasant bench, and behind it and the nearby hut we continue on foot along the forest road, which is closed to public traffic by a barrier and traffic sign. A little further on, another path joins us from the right over a wooden bridge; it branches off from the main road a little higher up and leads to the lower station of the nearby cableway.
We continue along the road, from which a little further on 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 which is already overgrown with grass. From this road after a few steps we go left onto an overgrown cart track, directed there by a yellow hiking signpost. This is followed by an ascent along the path overgrown with tall grass; in between we cross an older cart track and higher up a poorer road, then the path enters the forest where it becomes more distinct. A few minutes of traversing ascent follow, during which the path takes us past a mighty spruce, then past the WC we arrive at the hunting hut Geißeckhütte.
At the hut we step onto the road; at the nearby junction we go straight ahead. A few minutes of easy descent follow; 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. A few minutes of ascent through the forest follow, then we cross a pasture fence and a little further on we join the path from the Turracher Höhe pass.
We continue straight along the increasingly poor cart track, from which we soon go slightly left (still along the cart track Lattersteig, Lattersteighöhe and Bretthöhe) and in continuation we begin to ascend along a small valley down which a spring flows. An ascent follows along the western grassy slopes, up which along a barely visible path we climb 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, forks.
Slightly left the direct path to Eisenhut leads; we however continue slightly right towards Wintertalernock. An ascent follows along the panoramic grassy slope, where we cross a wire fence, then with views reaching from Triglav to the High Tauern we climb to Strassburger Spitz, where there stands a wooden cross with a summit register box.
From the summit we go right (slightly left Eisenhut) and past the chapel of St. Bernard we begin to descend along a somewhat narrower ridge. The descent ends at the saddle between the summits Strassburger Spitz and Wintertalernock; only a few minutes of moderate ascent along an ever-widening ridge separate us from the summit.
Turrach - Geißeckhütte 1:30, Geißeckhütte - Rapitzsattel 1:40, Rapitzsattel - Straßburger Spitz 0:50, Straßburger Spitz - Wintertalernock 0:15.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in 2019 (June).

On the way: Geißeckhütte (1664m), Rapitzsattel (2088m), Straßburger Spitz (2404m)