Salzburger Almenweg - The hiking stages

Leaving from Hüttschlag, you’ll head out on one of the two roads (depending on where you happened to have spent the night) which lead into the valley and the village of Wolfau. Making your way through Wolfau, past the sports grounds (to the right, it’s possible to take a short detour to the Wolfau Chapel and the Wolfau Waterfalls), you’ll stick to the town road until intersects with the main road, at which point we’ll head up the footpath to the right, this eventually feeding into a forestry path, before returning back down to the main road in Karteis.
Before the road in Karteis forks, a footpath branches off to the left between the houses and leads to Oberstein (farmstead well worth a visit, beautiful views of the valley). Below Mühlegg, you will follow the footpath to the right and down into the Karteisgraben, on the other side of which you will come to a supply road. After about 0.5 km, and after the Halmoosalm car park, the Almenweg branches off to the right, making its way uphill to the Karteisalm. The path which goes straight would take us to the two Draugsteinalmen, which you can reach from here in about a 1.5-hour walk. From the Karteisalm, you now continue along the Almenweg to the Karteistörl, passing through enchanting, open countryside, the ground here covered with shrubs and larch. As of the Törl, the most beautiful stretch of this stage now begins, taking us down to the Tappenkarseehütte, Tappenkarsee and Tappenkarseealm. The ascent from the lake up to the Draugsteintörl is at first very steep, though it then becomes flatter, only to become steeper yet again just before the Törl. From the Draugsteintörl we now make our way downhill along the flanks of the Draugstein - past the turn-off to the Filzmoossattel and continuing towards the valley and the two Draugsteinalmen, located approximately 110 vertical meters beneath the last junction.
If you got a later start, or simply want to enjoy the superb alpine panoramas and the Tappenkarsee a little longer, you can always spend the night at the Tappenkarseehütte. Alternatively, it’s also possible to shorten the tour by about 1 hour by, rather than dropping down to the Tappenkarsee, opting instead to take a ridge hike from the Karteistörl to the Draugsteintörl. In so doing, you cut out an ascent/descent of around 300 vertical meters, yet can still enjoy the fantastic mountain panoramas and views of the Tappenkarsee.

• Grossarltal Tourist Office: Tel. 06414 281
• Kleinarl Tourist Office: Tel. 06418 206
• Bus Information: Tel. 06414 281 or 06462 33030 - post bus service to Hüttschlag-Karteis (half-fare with your Guest Card)
• Hikers' Taxi to Halmoosalm on 2 - 3 weekdays. Info: 06414 281

• Karteisalm: end of June until the end of September, Tel. 06417 324
• Tappenkarseehütte: June until the end of September, Tel. 06418 308
• Tappenkarseealm: June until the end of September (depending on weather conditions), Tel. 0664 34 35 320
• Draugsteinalmen: mid June until the end of September,
• Schrambachhütte: mid June until the end of September Tel. 06417 274
• Steinmannhütte: mid June - 24 September Tel. 06417 265

• Tappenkarseehütte: beginning of June until the end of September, Tel. 06418 308 or 238 www.tappenkarseehuette.at
• Schrambachhütte: mid June until the end of September, Tel. 06417 274
• Steinmannhütte: beginning of June until the end of September, Tel. 06417 265 http://www.steinmannbauer.at/UNSERE-ALM.6.0.html

If you make your way from the Karteistörl a little way along the ridgeline to the south, you will reach the summit of the Kreuzeck in about 10 minutes, elev. 2,204 m with magnificent views of the Hohe Tauern and Glettnalm.