Weinebene - Großer Speikkogel (Koralpe) (via Großes Kar)

Access to starting point:
A) Over one of the border crossings with Austria (Korensko sedlo, Karawanks Tunnel, mountain pass Ljubelj, mountain pass Jezerski vrh, mountain pass Pavličev vrh) we drive to Austria, and then we continue driving on the so-called southern motorway towards Graz. On the mentioned motorway we drive to the place Volšperk / Wolfsberg, where we leave the motorway, and when we get to the old or regional road we continue driving in the direction of the place St. Gertraud. In the place St. Gertraud we notice signs for the alpine pass Weinebene, which point us to the right onto an ascending asphalt road. On the mentioned road we drive approximately 18 km, and then we get to the mentioned alpine pass, which is situated at an altitude of 1668 m.
B) Over the border crossing Holmec or Vič we drive to Austria, and then we continue driving towards the place Volšperk / Wolfsberg. From Volšperk we continue on the regional road in the direction of the place St. Gertraud. In the place St. Gertraud we notice signs for the alpine pass Weinebene, which point us to the right onto an ascending asphalt road. On the mentioned road we drive approximately 18 km, and then we get to the mentioned alpine pass, which is situated at an altitude of 1668 m.
C) First, we drive to Maribor, and then we continue driving on the motorway towards the border crossing Šentilj and further on the Austrian motorway towards Graz. We leave the mentioned motorway at the exit for the place Lipnica / Leibnitz. When we exit the motorway at the roundabout, we continue in the direction of the place Lipnica / Leibnitz and further we drive south of the village Gralla, which is today already some kind of peripheral part of Lipnica. Further, the road leads us past an industrial or commercial zone, and at the roundabout by the Hofer store we continue "straight" on the second exit in the direction of the place Lonč / Deutschlandsberg. Further, we drive on the main road for some time, and after the village Graschach we turn right in the direction of the place Lonč / Deutschlandsberg. In the roundabout right next to the place Lonč / Deutschlandsberg, we continue "straight" in the direction of the alpine pass Weinebene. From here, the road begins to ascend more steeply, and we follow it to the mentioned pass, which we reach after approximately 20 km of driving from the start of the settlement Lonč.

Path description:
From the pass Weinebene we continue towards the southwest, where by the hut Weinebenehaus (a little aside there is also the hut Göslerhütte) the mountain signposts for Gr. Speikkogel (Gr. Speikkogel is the highest peak of Golica / Koralpe), Jauksattel / Kleinalp, Grillitschhütte, Großhöllerhütte and Koralpenhaus direct us onto a gentle macadam road, which ascends across a gentle grassy slope. The marked path, which continues along the road, soon crosses a grazing fence, which after a few minutes brings us to a small saddle, from which a nice view opens towards the highest peak of Golica and towards the peaks north to northeast of the mentioned peak. When the road starts to descend, a parallel marked mountain path branches off slightly to the right, which continues across vast pastures. When the path stops gently descending, it slightly ascends and returns to the road, which has been closed to public traffic from the very beginning. Further on, the road ascends gently to moderately along the southeastern slopes of the peak Brandhöhe (1886 m (Brandhöhe is the peak located above the ski lifts of the Weinebene ski resort)), a little further also of the peak Moschkogel (1916 m). When we arrive at the slopes of the latter peak, the road starts to descend transversely towards the saddle located south of the mentioned peak.
At the saddle, where there is a marked junction, we arrive from Austrian Styria / Steiermark to Austrian Carinthia / Kärnten, and we continue slightly right onto the cart track which crosses the slopes to the right (the cart track is briefly unmarked, since the marked path leads right to the nearby hut Grillitschhütte and from there onwards to the cart track, the path straight along the fence continues towards the peak Großer Speikkogel - panoramic path).
For a few minutes we cross the slopes below the peak Hühnerstütze (1989 m), then we arrive at the cross Schäferkreuz, where the previously mentioned path past the hut Grillitschhütte joins us. Here we continue straight and in a few minutes we arrive at the indistinct saddle between Hühnerstütze (1989 m) on the left and the peak Sprungkogel (1868 m) on the right.
At the saddle there is a marked junction, where we continue slightly left in the direction of the peak Großer Speikkogel (straight to the hut Großhöllerhütte). We continue the path along the wide cart track, which further crosses a few brooks. The gentle cart track, which at first even slightly descends, a little higher turns into a gentle footpath, which continues across panoramic and gentle meadows. A little further, on the plateau Großes Kar, we arrive at a marked junction, where we go right in the direction of the hut Koralpenhaus (straight leads the path to the peak Gr. Speikkogel).
Further on, we cross the grazing plateau Großes Kar in the direction towards the west and continue for some time without major changes in elevation. When we gradually start to ascend moderately, the path past the Poms waterfall and the path past the hut Großhöllerhütte join us from the right.
Here we continue straight in the direction of the hut Koralpenhaus and cross the last brook, then we start to ascend more steeply along the also steeper slope.
After a few minutes of steep transverse ascent we reach the wide northern ridge of the peak Steinschneider, along which we continue an increasingly panoramic ascent. The path and the ridge further turn slightly to the left, and we quickly reach the 2070 m high peak Steinschneider.
We bypass the structure with transmitters on the left side, then we start to descend along the macadam road. We quickly leave the macadam road, along which the marked path towards the hut Koralpenhaus continues, and proceed slightly left onto an unmarked but well-trodden path, which continues along the ridge. A few minutes further we reach the asphalt road which leads from the hut Koralpenhaus, and along it we continue the ascent. We follow the road to the radars on the peak, which we bypass on the right side, then along the path in one minute of further walking we ascend to the cross on the peak.
Weinebene - Steinschneider 3:15, Steinschneider - Gr. Speikkogel 0:25.
Description refers to the condition in July 2023, and pictures are from various periods.

On the way: Steinschneider (2070m)