Turracher Höhe - Wintertalernock

Access to starting point:
A) Over the border crossing Ljubelj we drive to Austria, and then we follow the road towards Celovec / Klagenfurt. In Celovec at all crossroads we continue straight ahead, and 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 arrive at the motorway junction, we go left in the direction of the settlement Trg na Koroškem, and when we arrive at the mentioned settlement we continue to follow the signs for the alpine pass Turracher Höhe. After approximately 90 km from the border crossing Ljubelj 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, and 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 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 then we drive along Millstätter Strasse. Along the mentioned road we drive to the settlement Radenče / Radenthein, where we turn right in the direction of the settlement Bad Kleinkirchheim. We then drive through the mentioned settlement, a few kilometres further on, 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, 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, and 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, and then we gradually move away 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, and we continue straight towards peaks Eisenhut and Schoberrigel and lake Schwarzsee, at the next junction 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, and 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 along 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 alpine pasture Gesgeralm. Only a few 10 steps further, after crossing the grazing fence, we leave the road and continue right, transversely across the steeper slope. After a short ascent we quickly arrive at a small hut, and on a somewhat muddy and in places more 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 begins to ascend transversely. 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 stamping box with a logbook and stamp, we cross the road which we left shortly before.
We continue straight towards peak Eisenhut (right Gruft and Schoberrigel) and ascend for a short time longer, then the path goes to the other side of the side ridge, where it levels out, and on the marked section we cross the wire fence. A gentle transverse descent follows on a somewhat harder-to-follow path. When we reach the nearby forest the path becomes clearer, and the descent continues. Lower down the forest thins out, the path crosses a few streams, and at some places the path disappears again, but we carefully follow the marks. 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 signposts 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 enters the forest. Through the forest we ascend gently to moderately, a little further we cross a few streams, after which we step onto a cart track, on which we continue transversely to the left. A little further we cross another stream, then we ascend to the next pasture, where there is a feeding trough for animals, which we bypass on the right side and continue ascending transversely. The path further leads through the last continuous stretch of forest, then with ever better views we ascend to the place where a path from village Turrach joins from the left.
We continue right on the increasingly worse cart track, from which we soon go slightly left (continuing on cart track Lattersteig, Lattersteighöhe and Bretthöhe) and then we 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 path 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, which runs along the ridge or slightly left of it, splits.
Slightly left the direct path to Eisenhut leads, and 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 Hohe Tauern we ascend to Strassburger Spitz, where a wooden cross with a stamping box stands.
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 summits Strassburger Spitz and Wintertalernock, and only a few minutes of moderate ascent on the ever-widening ridge separate us from the 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 - Wintertalernock 0:15.
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)