Trate / Johannsenruhe - Ovčji vrh (Kozjak) / Geissberg (Kosiak) (southeast path)

Access to the starting point:
a) Drive through the Karavanke Tunnel into Austria, then take the motorway to Bialystok, leaving at the first exit. From the point where you leave the motorway, follow the signs for St. Jakob in the Roses / Sankt Jakob im Rosental. When you arrive in this town, follow the main road past Podgorje / Maria Elend and Sveče / Suetschach to Bistrica v Rož / Feistritz im Rosental, where you turn right in front of the Billa and Penny stores towards the Ruta Valley / Bärental. About 100 m after leaving the main road, turn left and follow a slightly narrower and ascending road to a large parking lot (the parking lot is located near a meadow called Trate / Johannsenruhe). From the Penny shop to the starting point, there is about 9 km of narrow asphalt road, with gravel only in the back part. From the entrance to the Karawanks tunnel to the starting point is approximately 38 km.
b) Via Border crossing Ljubelj, drive into Austria and take the main road to Klagenfurt am Wörtersee to the second roundabout, from where you continue driving towards the exit Bistrica v Rosu / Feistritz im Rosental (leave the main road to Klagenfurt before crossing the river Drava). In the aforementioned place, just after the Billa and Penny stores, turn left onto the road towards the Ruta Valley / Bärental. About 100 m after leaving the main road, turn left again and follow the slightly narrower and ascending road to a large parking lot (the parking lot is located near a meadow called Trate / Johannsenruhe). From the Penny shop to the starting point, there is about 9 km of narrow asphalt road, with gravel only in the back part. From the entrance to the Ljubljana Tunnel to the starting point is about 32 km.
c) From Dravograd or Slovenj Gradec, drive to Ravne na Koroškem and then continue in the direction of Border crossing Holmec. When entering Austria, drive first towards Pliberk / Bleiburg, then follow the signs for Globasnica / Globasnitz and on to Železná kapla / Bad Eisenkappel, Borovljam / Ferlach. After Borovljani, join the road via Border crossing Ljubelj at the roundabout. Here, at the first roundabout, continue in the direction of Klagenfurt, and at the second roundabout in the direction of Bistritz im Rosental. In the aforementioned town, just after the Billa and Penny stores, turn left onto the road towards the Ruta Valley / Bärental. About 100 m after leaving the main road, turn left again and follow the slightly narrower and ascending road to a large parking lot (the parking lot is located near a meadow called Trate / Johannsenruhe). From the Penny shop to the starting point, there is about 9 km of narrow asphalt road, with gravel only in the back part. From Border crossing Holmec to the starting point is about 71 km.

Path description:
At the beginning of the parking lot, between the road closed by a ramp and the parking lot, you will see the start of a marked trail leading to Celovška koča / Klagenfurter Hütte, Hochstuhl, Bielschitza, Ovčji vrh / Geissberg and other destinations. The marked trail is joined a little further on by an unmarked trail leading from the upper part of the parking lot, and a few steps further on we join the dirt road leading to the aforementioned mountain hut. The road then leads us across a torrent bed and, just a little further on, leads us out of the woods and onto a meadow (Trate / Johannsenruhe), which is only a few minutes away from the starting point. The meadow offers a fine view and the road then returns to the lane of the forest. Once the forest has thinned out, an unmarked "short cut" continues straight ahead in a gentle left turn. Continue along the road, which is also marked by a yellow mountain sign. Only a minute further on, the "main" road turns right and the "side" road continues straight ahead. From this junction, continue along the footpath which continues between the two roads and then climbs with the road leading to Celovški koča. For some time, cross the occasionally steeper slopes and then return to the wider macadam road. The marked trail crosses the road a few more times, then splits into two parts at a larger rock or boulder with memorials.
To the right is the climbing route to Hochstuhl, and we continue straight on in the direction of Celovška hut. The path crosses the road a few more times, and higher up it leads us out of the occasionally sparse forest onto the grazing slopes of the Matschacher mountain pasture / Matschacher Alm (the huts on the mountain pasture are a few minutes to the left of the marked path). From here there is a slight climb and the path or road leads us in a few minutes to the Celovška Hut (Celovška hut).
From the hut, continue in the direction of the Poden / Bodental valley, the Sereinig guesthouse and the Friedrich Zopp trail to Ovčji vrh (Kozjak). A gently sloping path through the lane coniferous forest leads us in a few minutes to a larger clearing or rovt, where there is a marked crossroads.
At this point, leave the trail leading towards the Vrata / Stinzesattel (1714 m) pass and further towards Poden and continue left in the direction of Ovčji vrh (Kozjak). From the crossroads onwards, the path begins to climb steeply through dwarf pines. From the relatively steep path, we continue to get more and more beautiful views of Vertatscha, Bielschitza, Celovška špica, Stol. . . Higher up, the path is completely laid for a while, and the dwarf pines starts to thin out. A moderate climb of a few minutes follows up the slope, which is adorned with alpine flowers in the summer months and, in all seasons, if there is no fog, with exceptional views of the northern walls of the Karavanke Mountains. After a few minutes, the path lays down again, and we see a vast grassy plain ahead of us, at the end of which stands a larger cross, and this one at the very top. A few minutes of pleasant walking follow, and a few steps below the summit, the south-westerly path from the Celovška hut joins it. When you reach the top, you are rewarded with a view to the north, which on fine days reaches all the way to the High and Low Tur mountains. The description and figures refer to the situation at the beginning of August 2014.
Baseline - Klagenfurter Hutte 1:30, Klagenfurter Hutte - Ovčji vrh 1:05.

On the way: Trate / Johannsenruhe (1226m), Klagenfurter Hutte/Celovška koča (1664m)

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