Turracher Höhe - Eisenhut (via Straßburger Spitz)

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, a little further on we leave it 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 go left towards the settlement Trg na Koroškem; 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 descend to parking lot No. 1, where we park.
B) Through the Karawanks Tunnel we drive to Austria, then on the motorway to the motorway junction, from which we continue towards Spittal an der Drau and continue on motorway A10. We quickly leave motorway A10 and take the exit for Ossiacher See / Osojsko jezero; at the nearby roundabout we take the third exit (if there were no roundabout we would go left) and continue on Millstätter Strasse. On 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, in the settlement Patergassen we turn left towards the alpine pass and ski area Turracher Höhe. When we arrive at the mentioned pass a short descent follows to parking lot No. 1, 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 walk to Hotel Hochschober, behind which we continue on the macadam road towards lake Schwarzsee, peak Eisenhut and other peaks. Initially 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 of lake Turrachsee opens up 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 junction we go slightly left towards peak Eisenhut (slightly right to Schoberrigel and Eisenhut via the mentioned peak).
A shorter ascent on the macadam road follows and we arrive at the former hotel located at the southwestern part of lake Schwarzsee; we descend gently to the northern shore of the lake.
From the lake we continue on the marked path, which we follow further towards peak Eisenhut. On the path, 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 path turns north, where we arrive at the lower part of alpine pasture Gesgeralm. Just a few dozen steps further, after crossing the pasture fence, we leave the path and continue right across the steeper slope. After a short ascent we quickly reach a small hut; on a somewhat muddy and in places overgrown path we ascend to the upper part of the pasture, where another hut stands on the right side.
Still before the hut, from the junction we continue on the slightly left road, which starts to ascend across the slope. After a few minutes walking on the poor road we leave it and continue right towards 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 summit log box with book and stamp, we cross the road that we left shortly before.
We continue straight towards peak Eisenhut (right Gruft and Schoberriegel) and ascend briefly; then the path goes to the other side of the side ridge, where it levels off, and at 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 and the descent continues. Lower down the forest thins, the path crosses a few streams, at some places the trail fades again and we carefully follow the markers. In a moderate descent, then in a few minutes we reach two huts on alpine pasture Gillendorferalm.
From the huts we walk to the alpine direction signs and continue towards saddle Rapitzsattel and peak Eisenhut. Initially we walk on a gentle grassy path, which on the other side of the pasture enters the forest. Through the forest we ascend gently to moderately; a bit further we cross a few streams, after which we step onto a cart track and continue across to the left. A bit further we cross another stream, then ascend to the next pasture, where there is an animal trough; 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 along a small valley through which a small stream flows. An ascent follows on the western grassy slopes, along which on 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 left the direct path to Eisenhut leads; we continue slightly right towards Wintertalernock. An ascent follows on the panoramic grassy slope, where we cross a wire fence, then with views reaching from Triglav to High Tauern we ascend to Strassburger Spitz, where a wooden cross with summit log box stands.
From the summit we continue slightly left and begin to descend along the panoramic northwest ridge of peak Straßburger Spitz. Lower we reach the ridge connecting the summit from which we just descended and Eisenhut; along it we continue with a few short ascents and descents. A bit further we reach elevation point 2333, from which a few minutes' descent follows to the marked junction where we join the direct path.
We continue straight, past a watering trough, then begin to ascend more steeply towards the highest peak of the Gurktal Alps. About 20 minutes of ascent along the edge of the south ridge follow and we reach the 2441 m high summit.
Turracher Höhe - Schwarzsee 0:25, Schwarzsee - Gesgeralm 0:50, Gesgeralm - Gillendorferalm 1:00, Gillendorferalm - Rapitzsattel 1:40, Rapitzsattel - Straßburger Spitz 0:50, Straßburger Spitz - Eisenhut 1:00.
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), Straßburger Spitz (2404m)