Continental Hotspot

Last summer I decided to up my hiking game and walk the 8-Gipfel trail on the border of the Steiermark and Kärnten in Austria. This tough hike promised some stunning scenery as I’d be walking up to the Kreischberg peak and then along a series eight further mountain peaks spending most of my time above the treeline. Given the elevation of the highest peaks I would easily be able to see into Slovenia (theoretically all the way to the Croatian border). I’d gone skiing and hiking in parts of the region before, though I’d never been as high up before so I was super excited!

Prepping

My plan was to wake up at first light and head off to the ski gondolas at Sankt Georgen ob Murau. Taking the first lift all the way up to the mountain station at about 1700m elevation would only leave a small ascent up to the Kreischberg summit. From there it would be an 8 to 9 hour hike towards my pick up at the foot of the Frauenalpe ski slopes. During the hike I’d be ascending and descending about a kilometer in total and cross a distance of more than 21km.

I had packed very thoroughly. Plenty of food, an extra pair of shoes, cold weather gear should the forecasts turn out to be incorrect, a detailed map, power banks, and various emergency supplies. Since I’d be walking very high up and wouldn’t be encountering any streams I could use to refill my water stores using chlorine tablets, I brought what I considered to be a ridiculous amount of water (five liters, of which I ended up needing four due to the physical exertion and dry air). While most of the route would consist of easy trails and open meadows I expected to find some areas where I’d have to kletter my way up and down the slopes using my hands and feet. To make that more comfortable I also brought some new trekking poles . Those did not make it. Carbon fiber may be lightweight but one of the poles ended up breaking and nearly caused a tumble as it gave way.

My main worry when I was first looking into this route was lightning. Should the weather turn somewhere halfway during the hike I’d be exposed on top of mountain ridges well above the treeline without shelter anywhere within several hours along the trail. Lighting storms in the mountains can be life threatening especially if you don’t recognize the static buildup in time. In preparation I’d carefully studied the weather forecasts though and I was confident I wouldn’t encounter anything more severe than wind chill.

The trail was marked fairly well with signposts and painted trail blazes on trees and rocks:

Into the wilderness

After setting out early in the morning I enjoyed several hours of strenuous but amazing hiking with great views of the surrounding landscape and two great audiobooks. I also looked down to the Hausserer See that I’d failed to reach several years earlier because of some curious and semi-aggressive cows deciding to say hi. As I walked I descended below the treeline as it was nearing three o’clock. Thus far I had made excellent time shaving nearly two hours off the indicated traversal time of the trail. I estimated I needed about an hour to climb the Frauenalpe peak, the last one along the trail, and descend back down to the pick up spot. So while mobile service was spotty I arranged to be picked up earlier at four. It was at that point the hike went south (a bit).

As I approached the Gotschidl-Frauenalpe trail from the south-west the 8-Gipfel trail dead ended up onto a logging road near a small meadow with no further markers anywhere in sight…

Now I’m not one to panic at the first sign of trouble while navigating in the mountains but the story of Gerry Largay is something I’m always mindful of in such situations regardless:

As I stood there on that deserted logging road, the trail behind me and no idea whether to go left or right, I felt a pang of unease. I had no reception. No clear idea where I was exactly. Fifteen minutes north-east of the Turnhoferhütte somewhere. I was reasonably sure I hadn’t taken the trail towards Auen as I hadn’t come across another mountain hut since Turnhoferhütte and I had been going north for a while. But that still left a large tract of land to be lost in. And the map wasn’t much help either. Walking a dozen paces in either direction along the logging road hadn’t revealed any new way markers. I was screwed.

Going back the way I came was out of the question as it would be dark within two hours meaning I would never reach the Kreischberg before nightfall, never mind before the lifts shut down. I was no more than an hour from my destination anyway and the prospect of hiking back another six seemed unappealing to my feet regardless of the conditions.

In the shadow of the trees and a mountain, the sun already quite low behind it all, I imagined twilight falling and having to bivouac outside, something for which I didn’t have the equipment with me at all. Scared and concerned questions from my brother about bears and wolves were helpfully replayed by my memory.

I decided to press on by going left along the logging road. This at least seemed to go in the right general direction. Hopefully the markers were just gone because of logging and I’d find more markers after a while. Initially I was optimistic. The road continued north like my map indicated and eventually turned south-east which too looked like a bend in the trail. Unfortunately after the trail had gone east for a while it made a sharp turn towards the north-west and started going downhill. I knew this was wrong.

Continuing along the logging road for several more minutes did not ease my nerves in the slightest. I had managed to get off a message saying I’d be a half hour later because I’d taken a wrong turn but the confidence with which I’d written that was merely feigned. I had no idea how to get to my destination. It seemed even more wrong when I had to climb a cattle fence and it wasn’t marked. After that the logging road turned from gravel to grass. The grass became taller. The “road” now no more than a track that became narrower and narrower.. I was literally getting into the weeds now.. I decided to turn back to the last point where I’d seen a trail marker.

Getting out

The main reason I didn’t start panicking at this point is because I knew I had plenty of light left to make it down the mountain even if I didn’t find the trail again. I had been near this trail intersection before two years earlier on a short hike from Murau to Sankt Georgen ob Murau and I had lost my way then too. Back then I had wanted to go from the Frauenalpe to Gotschidl. Having missed the markers I had happily continued down the mountain on a number of logging roads along the Marbachgraben (this entire region’s forest is managed for timber production). If you do that you’re bound to get to civilization even if it isn’t the part you are looking for. But in this case I didn’t just want to reach a town I wanted to get to the agreed meeting point.

Once back at the trailhead I decided to do a ray search to find the trail. I tied a large orange raincover to the tree with the last marker and took out my compass again. I’d walk a hundred paces in each direction keeping the orange raincover in sight at all times. I had already tried going along the logging road but I now did so much more systematically, counting steps and doing a full turn every ten paces to search for markers. Nothing.

Next I could go north-east, east and south-east, none of which were particularly appealing as they were steep uphill directions (there was no sense in picking any directions to the west though I feared it might come to that if I didn’t find anything). I decided to go north-east away from my orange raincover first. In this direction lay a small but steep meadow bounded downhill by the logging road and by forest on all three other sides. There were some cows which I passed slowly and cautiously. They seemed mostly curious and luckily had no calves with them. I eyed their horns wearily. If they decided to attack they’d for sure impale me on those.

After a further five minutes of slow meticulous searching on the north-east direction, when I turned back towards my orange beacon I finally spotted a trail marker to my left. Immediately I was confused. How could it be there? There didn’t seem to be any way to reach it. Between it and the meadow I was standing in was a deep gully. And downhill near the trailhead was a steep cliff. I made a mental note of the location and set out back down. As I walked I kept a sharp eye on the marker and a look out for any more.

Once back at the trailhead now with a firm grasp of the direction I needed to go in I discovered what had thrown me off course. Looking directly east and high up the hill I saw the final marker that signaled the continuation of the trail, the one I had missed before. It was directly opposite the trailhead on the other side of the logging road, but more than 20 feet higher up the mountain. I hadn’t bothered to look in that direction before. Why? The steep cliff between me and the marker might have had something to do with that. It looked like it had been made by road graders and it clearly wasn’t meant to go up on. But that was the direction the marker now finally pointed me.

Apparently the logging road had been regraded and the graders had refurbished the mountain slope. In doing so they destroyed part of the trail and hadn’t bothered to create a new one or put up new signs.

I decided to scale the cliff since it seemed easier than crossing the gully.

After collecting my raincover I scaled the cliff of boulders and gravel slipping and sliding here and there but making slow progress. Ten minutes of hazardous climbing later I was at the top. Once at the top the rest of the trail was muddy but clearly visible. I got back on track and headed to civilization.

I may end up revisiting this particular section of the 8-Gipfel trail and do some literal trail blazing in the future. It doesn’t seem that anyone is going to fix the way markers up there so I might as well do it if I’m ever in the area again.