Unterpirkach - Hochstadelhaus
Starting point: Unterpirkach (636 m)
Starting point Lat/Lon: 46.7592°N 12.9249°E 
Time of walking: 3 h 15 min
Difficulty: easy marked way
Difficulty of skiing: no data
Altitude difference: 1144 m
Altitude difference (by path): 1144 m
Map: Kompass, Lienzer Dolomiten/Lesachtal 1:50.000
Access to starting point:
From Ljubljana through Karawanks Tunnel and then on the highway to Spittal. We continue driving in the direction of Lienz, and we drive through the Drautal valley to Oberdrauburg, where we turn left in the direction of Kötschach and mountain pass Plöckenpass. Immediately after the river Drau and railway track we turn right (by the crossroad we notice many signs, among them also for mountain hut Hochstadelhaus), and then on a somewhat narrower road we reach Unterpirkach. Next we drive past a bigger chapel and only a few meters ahead over the bridge over the stream Pirkner. Immediately after the bridge we turn left and park on the parking lot by the hiking signposts.
Path description:
From the parking lot, we continue on a gently sloping cart track which runs on the right side of the nearby stream. After a few minutes, the cart track splits into two parts. The left one after some 10 meters ends by the stream, and we continue on the right one, which gradually starts ascending steeper. The marked path soon leaves the increasingly poor cart track and continues to the right, where it ascends diagonally over occasionally somewhat steeper slopes. Higher, the path returns to the cart track, and then we continue on it to its end.
The marked footpath continues in the same direction, and then after some time turns to the left, where the climbing path soon joins us.
We continue on a well-beaten path, which higher crosses a road (road is closed for public traffic), and then it returns into the forest and past Hilda's smoking bench, again brings us to a forest road. We leave the road immediately, higher the marked path again crosses the road a few times, or it follows it for a short time. Higher the forest thins out, so we have nice views towards the eastern side, where we clearly see the river Drau and part of the Gailtal Alps. The path higher returns to the road, which we then follow all the way to the mountain hut Hochstadelhaus.
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