Lienzer Dolomitenhütte - Große Gamswiesenspitze (Madonnen Klettersteig)

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 left on the extremely difficult "Madonnen Kletersteig". The path starts climbing along a steep slope at the beginning. The path crosses the slope slightly to the left a few times, but otherwise climbs steeply upwards towards the north. Later, the path turns left and crosses a steep exposed rock face, which leads to a suspension bridge. After crossing the bridge, the trail turns right up again and leads to a registration box by a small steel cable, which is located before entering the most challenging part of the trail.

From the registration box, continue left up the hill and then climb almost vertically along the steel cableway several times. This will take you to the west side of the mountain. Here you will see an interesting rock in front of you, to which a "saintly glow" has been added so that from a distance it looks like a statue of the Virgin Mary. The path then turns slightly to the right, going around the rock, before turning left and climbing vertically along the cliff a few times. This part of the path is extremely difficult and is marked with difficulty level C. Towards the top, the path becomes less steep and after a short climb along the ridge, an easier path joins from the right. From here it is just a short climb along a scenic ridge to the summit.

The route described is extremely difficult and is suitable only for the most skilled mountaineers with sufficient strength in their arms and with compulsory self-guidance. The climb is particularly difficult because the whole route is protected only by a rope, which is often placed in such a way that it can only be used as a belay and not as a climbing aid.

It is recommended to descend via the easier route (Normalweg) via the notch between Große Gamswiesenspitze and Kleine Gamswiesenspitze.

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

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