Turracher Höhe - Eisenhut

Access to starting point:
A) Via the Ljubelj border crossing we drive to Austria, then we follow the road towards Celovec / Klagenfurt. In Celovec at all crossroads we continue straight, 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 get to the highway junction we go left in the direction of the settlement Trg na Koroškem, when we get to the mentioned settlement we further follow the signs for the alpine pass Turracher Höhe. After approximately 90 km from the border crossing Ljubelj we get to the mentioned pass, from which we descend to parking lot No. 1 where we park.
B) Through the Karawanks Tunnel we drive to Austria, then we drive on the highway to the highway junction, from there we continue towards Spittal an der Drau and continue driving on highway A10. We quickly leave highway A10 and drive to the exit for Ossiacher See / Osojsko jezero, 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 kilometers ahead in the settlement Patergassen we turn left in the direction of the alpine pass and ski resort Turracher Höhe. When we get to the mentioned pass a shorter descent to parking lot No. 1 follows, where we park. From the Karavanke border crossing to the starting point it is approximately 78 km.

Path description:
From the parking lot we first carefully cross the main road, then we walk to Hotel Hochschober, behind which we continue on the macadam road in the direction of lake Schwarzsee, peak Eisenhut and other peaks. At first a nice view opens up from the path on lake Turrachsee, then we gradually distance ourselves from the lake. Soon we arrive at the tourist settlement Meizeit Hüttendorf, where the last view opens up on lake Turrachsee and where the path splits.
To the right a path branches off towards lake Grünsee, we continue straight towards peaks Eisenhut and Schoberrigel and lake Schwarzsee, at the next crossroad we go slightly left towards peak Eisenhut (slightly right Schoberrigel and Eisenhut over the mentioned peak).
A shorter ascent follows on the macadam road and we arrive at a former hotel located at the southwestern part of lake Schwarzsee, we descend in a gentle descent to the northern shore of the lake.
From the lake we continue on the marked road, which we continue to follow in the direction of peak Eisenhut. On the road, which mostly leads with nice views, only occasionally through a short stretch of forest, we mostly descend gently, after crossing a somewhat larger stream the road turns north, where we already arrive at the lower part of the alpine pasture Gesgeralm. Just a few dozen steps further, after crossing the grazing fence we leave the road and continue right, across the steeper slope. After a short ascent we quickly arrive at a small cottage, we ascend on a somewhat muddy and transitively more overgrown path to the upper part of the pasture, where another cottage stands on the right side.
Still before the cottage, from the junction we continue on the slightly left road, which begins to ascend across. After a few minutes of walking on the poor road we leave it and continue right in the direction of the marked path. The marked path leads us past a spring with an older trough, then at the marked junction at Engeleriegel, where there is also a logbook box with a logbook and stamp, we cross the road which we left shortly before.
We continue straight towards peak Eisenhut (right Gruft and Schoberriegel) and ascend for a short time, then the path goes to the other side of the side ridge, where it levels out, on the marked section we cross the wire fence. A gentle crossing descent follows on a somewhat harder-to-follow trail. When we reach the nearby forest the trail becomes clearer, the descent continues. Lower the forest thins out, the path crosses a few streams, at some places the trail is lost again, we carefully follow the marks. In a moderate descent, then in a few minutes we reach two cottages on alpine pasture Gillendorferalm.
From the cottages we walk to the alpine direction signs and continue in the direction of saddle Rapitzsattel and peak Eisenhut. Initially we walk on a level grassy path, which on the other side of the pasture turns into forest. Through the forest we ascend gently to moderately, a bit further we cross a few streams, after them we step onto a cart track, on it we continue across to the left. A bit further we cross another stream, then we ascend to the next pasture, where there is a feeding trough for animals, we bypass it on the right side and continue ascending across. The path further leads through the last dense stretch of forest, then with ever better views we ascend to the place where the path from village Turrach joins from the left.
We continue right on the increasingly worse cart track, from it we soon go slightly left (continuing on cart track Lattersteig, Lattersteighöhe and Bretthöhe) and begin to ascend in a small valley through which a brooklet flows. An ascent follows on the western grassy slopes, on which along a barely visible trail we ascend to saddle Rapitzsattel, where there is a marked junction.
From the saddle we continue left towards peaks Eisenhut and Wintertalernock (straight Flattnitz, right Lattersteighöhe), the path running along the ridge or slightly left of it splits.
Slightly right leads the path to Wintertalernock and Eisenhut via peak Strassburger Spitz, we continue slightly left towards Eisenhut.
A crossing ascent follows across a panoramic grassy slope, then we cross a short scree field, across which at the beginning of summer the path is still somewhat less trodden. Crossing two more streams follows, then for some time we continue along the wire fence, views opening up reaching to the High Tauern, looking back a nicer view of the Julian Alps opens up with every step. The fence soon ends, in front of us a nice view opens towards the summit head of Eisenhut. When after a few more minutes we ascend to a small saddle, the path leading over peak Strassburger Spitz joins from the right.
We continue straight, passing a watering place, after which we begin to ascend more steeply towards the highest peak of the Gurktal Alps. About 20 minutes of ascent along the edge of the southern ridge follow and we reach the 2441 meters high summit.
Turracher Höhe - Schwarzsee 0:25, Schwarzsee - Gesgeralm 0:50, Gesgeralm - Gillendorferalm 1:00, Gillendorferalm - Rapitzsattel 1:40, Rapitzsattel - Eisenhut 1:20.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in 2019 (June).

On the way: Hotel Hochschober (1763m), Meizeit Hüttendorf (1785m), Schwarzsee (pri Turracher Höhe) (1841m), Gesgeralm (1813m), Engeleriegel (1920m), Gillendorferalm (1750m), Rapitzsattel (2088m)