Unterauerlinger Hütte - Peterer Riegel (via Peterer Alm)

Access to starting point:
We leave the A2 highway Klagenfurt - Graz at the Packsattel exit, then follow the signs for Auerling. Next follows some descent, then we follow the signs for the settlement Unterauerling, from there the signs for Liedel, Schrottalmhütte, and Unterauerlingerhütte. Higher up, the road splits, we go right towards Unterauerlingerhütte (left Schrottalmhütte) and then drive to the parking lot near the mentioned hut.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we walk to the chapel of St. Hubert, which is situated above the hut Unterauerlinger Hütte and continue left by the chapel (straight to the hut Knödelhütte). There follows an ascent on a rough macadam road, shortly after the hunting observatory we veer slightly right from the road onto a marked path that cuts the right bend. We quickly return to the road and continue ascending along it; after crossing a grazing fence, we leave it at a left bend and proceed right toward the hut Bernsteinhütte (continuing on the road to Liedelhütte and Schrottalmhütte). Next, we walk along a path that leads through the forest; we initially ascend a bit further, then a gentle descent to a junction at a small saddle, where we join the path from the hut Knödelhütte.
Here we continue across the grazing fence, then go left (straight to Bernsteinhütte 1 minute).
There follows a moderate ascent along the edge of the grazing area, and the path splits again a little higher.
To the left, the path leads to the huts Görlitzerhütte and Schrotthütte, we continue straight, where a few minutes higher we leave the sparse forest. There follows a fairly even moderate ascent on a panoramic grassy ridge, when the path levels out, on the right side only three minutes off the path we spot the cross on the south summit of Hirschegger Alm. The marked path bypasses the mentioned summit on the left side, we quickly descend to the nearby saddle, where there is a marked junction.
From the saddle, we continue straight along the grazing fence (left hut Görlitzerhütte, right hut Sauerishütte and summit Seinerkreuz) and begin ascending again. Slightly higher, another path branches right to the hut Sauerishütte, we continue in the same direction and ascend the panoramic grassy ridge. Higher up, the ridge flattens, we follow the path a few more minutes to the indistinct northern summit of Hirschegger Alm.
There follows some descent, then from the right a marked path from the settlement Hirschegg joins us.
We continue straight and bypass the summit St. Leonharder Alm on the right, northeastern side, continuing without major elevation changes. A bit further, we pass a water trough, when the traverse ends a bit further on, we reach a junction on the saddle between the just-mentioned summit and Peterer Riegel.
Here we first continue slightly left toward the hut Petererhütte (slightly right Peterer Sattel), after crossing the grazing fence go left and follow the marked path a short while longer, which descends slightly. A few minutes further, when we reach the grassy track, we leave the marked path and begin ascending the mentioned track. There follows moderate and increasingly panoramic ascent, when the fainter track turns slightly right it gradually becomes a path, which quickly takes us to the marked path from the hut Petererhütte to the summit Peterer Riegel. Here we continue right and arrive at the panoramic summit in a few minutes.
Unterauerlinger Hütte - Bernsteinhütte 0:35, Bernsteinhütte - south summit Hirschegger Alm 0:50, south summit Hirschegger Alm - north summit Hirschegger Alm 0:50, north summit Hirschegger - Peterer Riegel 1:25.
The description and pictures refer to the condition in July 2023.

On the way: Bernsteinhütte (1559m), Hirschegger Alm (južni vrh) (1767m), Hirschegger Alm (severni vrh) (1871m)