Lienzer Dolomitenhütte - Große Gamswiesenspitze (Normalweg)

Access to the starting point:
Drive through the Karavanke Tunnel into Austria, then continue to Spittal and on to Lienz (the motorway ends a little after Spittal). We continue along a relatively nice and wide road through the Drava Valley. A few kilometres before Lienz (near Unterdorf), you will see the signs for the Lienzer Dolomitenhütte hut, which will direct you left onto the local road. The road then crosses the River Drava over a bridge and leads to the village of Lavant, where you continue to the right towards the village of Tristach. Between Lavant and Tristach you will come to the next crossroads, where you turn left in the route "Lienzer Dolomitenhütte". Follow this road, which begins to climb steeply, to a large parking area near the hut. The road is toll road (July 2009 7€).

Lienz can also be reached by driving through the Zillian valley (Korensko sedlo, Hermagor, Ziljsko sedlo/Gailbergsattel pass) instead of the Drava valley, in which case you arrive in the Drava valley at Oberdrauburg.

Path description:
From the parking lot, continue along the road, which will take you to the Lienzer Dolomitenhütte mountain hut in 2 minutes.

From the hut, cross the fence and continue your ascent along the scenic road (a nice view of the jagged ridge - the highest is Spitzkofel 2717 m), which is exposed to falling rocks in the initial part. The road then crosses a short lane of woodland and after this leads to the undistinguished Premstall Pass (1625 m), where there is a small crossroads.

Continue straight on past a water trough (left up Weißtein Alm) along a road which, after a few minutes' further walking, leads to a small mountain pasture Instein Alm, where you see a small wooden hut and a chapel slightly above it.

Continue along the road, which quickly leads to a marked crossroads, where you leave.

We continue our ascent along a wide mountain path, which begins to climb slightly steeper, through increasingly sparse forest. The path opens up very beautiful views, crosses the mountain road a few times and leads us higher to a small wooden shelter.

At the shelter, leave the road again and walk for a short distance along the footpath towards the Karlsbader Hütte hut, then turn onto the footpath, which leads sharp right towards the Kerschbaumer Törl saddle. At first you continue walking along the grassy valley and then you start climbing up the scree towards the saddle. When you reach the base of the Törlkopf, the path from the Karlsbader Hütte joins from the left. The path then turns slightly to the left and there is a short climb up to the Kerschbaumer Törl saddle. At the saddle where the trail junction is, continue to the right slightly downhill past the "Madonnen Klettersteig" signs. After a short descent, you reach the crossroads again, where you continue to the right and continue downhill, crossing the slopes below the summit of Kleine Gamswiesenspitze. When the path leads to dwarf pines, we are soon directed to "gr. Gamswiesenspitze" signposts point right upwards. The path then climbs up a partly grassy slope and soon leads to another crossroads and thus to the entrance to the climbing part of the route.

Continue to the right, following the "Normalweg" signs, and the extremely difficult "Madonnen Kletersteig" trail leads off to the left. The route then first crosses the slope by the steel cable to the right and then turns left uphill. This part of the trail is quite steep and also very crumbly, so it is advisable to use self-belaying shoes. The route then becomes slightly less steep and the fixed safety gear are no longer necessary. The ascent continues on grassy slopes and then again on a slightly steeper section until the notch between the Große Gamswiesenspitze and Kleine Gamswiesenspitze.

From the notch, continue left, and to the right is the extremely difficult path to Kleine Gamswiesenspitze. Here the trail ascends steep grassy slopes to the west, then turns slightly to the right and climbs towards the ridge. When you reach the ridge, the "Madonnen Kletersteig" trail joins from the left and there is only a short climb up the ridge to the top.

On the way: Instein Alm (1669m), Kerschbaumer Törl (2285m)

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