parking below Weinebene - Krakaberg (Golica / Koralpe) (via Grünangerhütte)

Access to the starting point:
a) Take one of the border crossings with Austria (Korensko sedlo, Karawanks tunnel, Ljubelj Pass, Jezerski vrh Pass, Pavličev vrh Pass) into Austria and then continue along the so-called southern motorway towards Graz/Graz. Follow the motorway to Volšperk / Wolfsberg, where you leave the motorway, and then, when you reach the old or regional road, continue in the direction of St. Gertraud. In St. Gertraud, you will see signs for the Weinebene Alpine Pass, which will direct you to the right onto an ascending asphalt road. Follow this road for approximately 18 km before reaching the Alpine pass, which is situated at an altitude of 1668 m. From the pass we start descending towards Lonč/Deutschlandsberg, and just after the left-hand serpentine we park in a marked parking lot on the right-hand side of the road.
b) Cross the Holmec or Vič border crossing into Austria and then continue to Volšperk / Wolfsberg. From Volšperk, follow the regional road towards St. Gertraud. In St. Gertraud, you will see signs for the Weinebene Alpine Pass, which will direct you to the right onto an ascending asphalt road. Follow this road for approximately 18 km before reaching the Alpine pass, which is situated at an altitude of 1668 m. From the pass we start descending towards Lonč/Deutschlandsberg, and just after the left-hand serpentine we park in a marked parking lot on the right-hand side of the road.
c) First we drive to Maribor, then we continue on the motorway to Border crossing Šentilj and further on the Austrian motorway to Graz / Graz. Leave the motorway at the exit for Lipnica / Leibnitz. After leaving the motorway at the roundabout, continue in the direction of Lipnitz / Leibnitz and continue south of the village of Gralla, which is now a suburb of Lipnitz. The road continues past an industrial or commercial area, and at the roundabout by the Hofer store we continue "straight on" to the second exit in the direction of Lonč / Deutschlandsberg. Continue along the main road for a while and then turn right after the village of Graschach in the direction of Lonč / Deutschlandsberg. At the roundabout near Lonč/Deutschlandsberg, continue "straight ahead" towards the Weinebene Alpine Pass. From here on, the road climbs steeply, and we follow it for about 17 km, then before the right-hand serpentine on the left we see a parking lot, where we park.

Path description:
From the parking lot, take the side road towards hut Grünangerhütte and mountain pasture Bärentalalm, which crosses the slopes below the main road. The tarmac along the side road ends quickly and you reach a crossroads where you continue along the upper right road (one of the paths to hut Grünangerhütte leads along a slightly left-hand road). There is some climbing, and the path from the Reihkehre - Glashütten parking lot, which is above the serpentine mentioned in the access to the starting point, joins from the right. There is some more crossing, mostly on a slight ascent, and then the path splits again.
This time continue slightly left in the direction of hut Grünangerhütte (straight ahead Bärentalalm) and follow cart track, which crosses the slopes to the left. Soon cross a bridge over a nearby stream, then continue through the forest for a few minutes. Later, you will reach a forest road turnoff, which you continue along, and the road descends for a few minutes. Below, signs from the road direct you right to cart track, which you follow through the woods, which turns into a track that quickly leads you to the Grünangerhütte hut.
After the hut, turn right and continue your ascent along the marked footpath. After a few minutes of climbing through a sparse forest, you will reach a small crossroads where you will continue straight ahead in the direction of the path over Steinmandl. A little further on, cross a grazing fence, and continue a few minutes' climb through the forest. As you leave the forest, cross a forest road, and just above the road the trail splits.
Before crossing the pasture fence, go right, where the marked trail continues towards the summit of Steinmandl (straight unmarked trail to the nearby Loskogel). There is a steep climb along the edge of the forest, and then the trail flattens out and crosses the unmarked ridge of the summit of Steinmandl, where we are joined on the right by a trail leading over the mountain pasture Bärentalalm, which is a few minutes shorter than ours.
From here, there is a short moderate climb and, with good views, we reach an interesting peak with turrets.
There is a slight descent from the summit, and then a gradual ascent along the fence, with the Hühnerstütze peak in front of us. The path ahead takes you past the turn-off for Zwergenstein, and a little further on the path turns left and starts to cross the slopes of Hühnerstütze to the left. There is a long, easy climb, and we reach a crossroads at an undistinguished saddle between the Seespitz and Hühnerstütze peaks, as the views get better and better.
Here we continue straight ahead or slightly left in the direction of Großer Speikkogel (sharp right Hühnerstütze, the Weinebene Pass and also our starting point) and continue to climb gently, the path leading us to the western slopes of Seespitz Peak.
Cross the slightly steeper slopes of the summit for a few minutes and then reach the Seespitzsattel saddle, where the path past the Schäferkreuz cross joins from the right.
Again, we continue in the direction of the highest peak of the mountain range, and after a few minutes of cross-climbing, we begin to ascend the slopes of Kleiner Speikkogel, reaching the main ridge, which is reached at the saddle between the two highest peaks of the Golica.
From here continue straight down towards the Koglereck Pass and Labot / Lavamünd (Kleiner Speikkogel on the left, Großer Speikkogel on the right). There is a short descent before reaching a small valley where the trail splits once more. Go left here (Koralpenhaus hut on the right), and after a few steps go right on a less well-trodden unmarked path leading to the nearby Krakaberg peak. The trail slowly disappears, and we quickly reach the nearby summit, already visible from the ridge.
Starting point - Grünangerhütte 0:55, Grünangerhütte - Steinmandl 0:45, Steinmandl - Krakaberg 1:40.

On the way: Grünangerhütte (Golica / Koralpe) (1575m), Steinmandl (Golica / Koralpe) (1835m), Seespitzsattel (2040m)

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