Lienzer Dolomitenhütte - Große Sandspitze (Ari Schübel)

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 the water trough (left up Weißtein Alm) along the 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 a little above it.

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

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, we leave the road again and continue our ascent through a gently sloping high mountain valley surrounded by high peaks. The gently sloping path, which runs alongside a torrential stream, turns right at a higher altitude and climbs steeply for a short time. Follow this scenic route all the way to the Karlsbader Hütte mountain hut (there is also a Laserzsee lake next to the hut), which is reached after a few minutes of further walking.

The hut can also be reached by mountain road.

From the hut, continue eastwards following the Sandspitzen signs. The path follows the left side of the valley below the slopes of the Sandspitze and is marked with blue dots. After a short climb, you reach a crossroads where the Gebirgsjägersteig trail branches off to the left. This path is marked with green dots and is not protected. We continue on the Ari Schübel trail marked with blue dots. The trail then climbs up a scree slope, turns slightly to the left and leads us before entering a slightly steeper ravine. In early summer, you may encounter a snowbank on the ascent through the ravine, so it is essential to use a snowshoe and, in the event of hard snow, snowshoes. The path through the ravine is well protected by a cable car. The path leads from the ravine to a small notch where the path crosses. We continue to the left where we are also directed by a blue inscription on a rock. The path climbs relatively steeply along the steel cable, and we are also helped by a few staples. The path then crosses the slope on the south side of the mountain to the west and soon leads us to the crossroads again. To the right, the unprotected Gebirgsjägersteig trail leads steeply uphill, and we continue straight ahead and continue to cross the southern slopes of the mountain in a gentle descent. This part of the trail is marked with both blue and green dots. In early summer there may be a snowfield on this part of the trail, but there is a cable car across the snowfield, so it is possible to use self-propulsion when crossing the trail. Beyond the possible snowfield, there is another crossroads. The Gebirgsjägersteig trail leads down to the left, and we continue along the right-hand trail, which starts to climb quite steeply alongside the glacier. The path then turns to the right and starts climbing up the western slope of the mountain. S

On the way: Instein Alm (1669m), Karlsbader Hütte (2261m)

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