Turracher Höhe - 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 ahead; when the main road turns sharply to the right, we leave it shortly afterwards and continue to the left in the direction of 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; 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 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 on motorway A10. We quickly leave motorway A10 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 driving 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. We continue through the mentioned settlement; a few kilometres further, 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 short descent 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 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.
A path branches off to the right 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 then descend gently to the northern shore of the lake.
From the lake we continue on the marked road, which we follow further 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 mountain pasture Gesgeralm. Only a few dozen steps further, after crossing the pasture fence, we leave the road and continue right, across the steeper slope. After a short ascent we quickly arrive at a small hut; on a somewhat muddy and partially overgrown path we ascend to the upper part of the mountain 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. 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 book and stamp, we cross the road we left shortly before.
We continue straight towards peak Eisenhut (right to Gruft and Schoberriegel) and ascend for a short time more, 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 down the forest thins, the path crosses a few streams; at some places the trail disappears again, we carefully follow the marks. In moderate descent we reach two huts on mountain pasture Gillendorferalm in a few minutes.
From the huts we walk to the mountain direction signs and continue in the direction of saddle Rapitzsattel and peak Eisenhut. At first we walk on an even grassy path, which on the other side of the mountain 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, on which we continue across to the left. A bit further we cross another stream, then 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 a small valley down which a small brook 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 to Flattnitz, right to 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 the wire fence, then with views reaching from Triglav to High Tauern we ascend to Strassburger Spitz, where a wooden cross with a logbook box stands.
Turracher Höhe - Schwarzsee 0:25, Schwarzsee - Gesgeralm 0:50, Gesgeralm - Gillendorferalm 1:00, Gillendorferalm - Rapitzsattel 1:40, Rapitzsattel - Strassburger Spitz 0:50.
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)

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