Thrilled to Zirbitzkogel

09-09-12

Zirbitskogel from Linderhutte

A Sunday, so no matter where I go there are going to be many others. So why not share the day with them on an Ultra. Zirbitzkogel (2396m P1502) in the Seetaler alps, the 43rd most prominent mountain in the Alps has got to be the easiest Ultra so far, for me. Indeed I deliberately added on an extra top and a longer way back to make it worthwhile going out into the brilliant sunshine.

Thrilled to bag another Ultra

Most people left their vehicles in the car park of the Sabathyhutte (1820m). I left mine about 600 metres down the road because I wanted to leave it in the shade - stops my fridge from defrosting, you see. From the hut I took the dashed red line hiking path 316 through the woods to a meadow surrounded Linderhutte. From there it was back into the woods for a while and then on open ground getting steeper and rougher as it passes Winterleiten lake. The last bit was the steepest, but the path was fairly easy going.

No idea, just one of several things on the summit

Zirbitzkogelhutte and bell

On the ridge the path became an unpaved road to the Zirbitz KG hutte which sits at 2376m, twenty metres below the nearby summit. The summit has various constructions including yet another flipping cross and a memorial to the world war 1 and 2 dead. The top and the hutte were very crowded and there were many bottles of beer being drunk.
I could have just gone back down the way I went up and been back at the van well before the fridge had time to defrost. however, I decided to explore the ridge and headed SSE down track 308 to an unnamed saddle at about 2053m and then up to a summit, Fuchskogel (2214m P161).

Fuchskogel

Zirbitzkogel from Fuchskogel

This time the cross was not at the summit, it was on the edge of the escarpment overlooking a corrie containing the Lavant lake and river. I circled back round the corrie to the saddle - and used a path marked on the map but barely visible on the ground to avoid having to go back to the Zirbitz KG summit again. Then I followed track 322 which initially was a wide well used eroded path but inexplicably became another barely obvious path and no-one else around. At first I thought I had gone the wrong way, but the occasional markings on rocks confirmed that I was not astray. When the path crossed a track that would take me back to Linderhutte, I deliberately broke the rules and instead of using a marked trail I used an unpaved road that zigzagged through the woods to take me directly back to my van - and the fridge was still cold enough for the milk not to have curdled.

Zirbitzkogel from the east

Which way is Triglav?