Hohe Tauern Austria


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Hohe Tauern, Austria

The Practical

Our decision to go to Matrei in the Hohe Tauern, Austria, for a walking holiday was prompted by an email from the "Strollers", a walking group we met in the Picos de Europa in 2016. We had such fun with them then, and it was a pleasure to join them for a week in June 2018. Our bookings were made through Collett's Mountain Holidays. We were unable to get into the hotel where the "Strollers" were staying, Hotel Hinteregger in Matrei, but we managed to get a self-catering apartment for the period 14th to 28th June about 10 minutes walk away. Whilst it it is possible to get a transfer from Innsbruck to Matrei and to use buses locally, it is advantageous to have the flexibility of a car, and we hired a Skoda Octavia Estate at Innsbruck for the drive to Matrei.

Date	Flight	ETD	ETA
Thursday 14th June	EZY8293	London Gatwick 12:35 hrs	Innsbruck 15:35 hrs
Thursday 28th June	EZY8294	Innsbruck 16:10 hrs	London Gatwick 17:05 hrs

The Hohe Tauern National Park was established in 1981, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is the largest National Park in Central Europe, and straddles three provinces, namely Carinthia, Salzburg and Tyrol. With over 300 peaks exceeding 3,000 meters, the Hohe Tauern is Austria's rooftop, home to its highest mountain, the Glossglockner (3,798m) and its 4th highest mountain, the Grossvenediger (3,666 m). The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian state of Salzburg with Carinthia and East Tyrol, while a small part in the south west belongs to the Italian Province of South Tyrol.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nationalpark_hohe_tauern.png
Attribution: Anitagraser, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Free Use

Matrei is a small market town in the Lienz District of East Tyrol, 29km north-west of Lienz, with a population of approximately 5,000 people. From Innsbruck Airport to Matrei is 164 km and takes 2 hrs 45 mins by car via Wörgel and Kitzbühel (Michelin Maps). Just before arriving at matrei you pass through the 5.2 km long Felbertauern tunnel (Tariff 11 euros each way by car).

Collett's offer a number of easy, moderate and hard routes in the area as detailed below. Those shaded in grey are the particular walks that I did during the two weeks we were there. We were lucky in that the weather was fabulous and did not restrict our access to the higher areas, and we only had one wet day, the last day of our stay in Matrei.

		Km	Gain m	Loss m	Hours
	Easy Routes
E01	Obersee & Stalle Pass Traverse	13	250	800	3~4
E02	Isle River & Woodlands	8	200	200	3
E03	Kodnitztal Valley	5	320	320	2~3
E04	Innergschloss Hamlet	9.2	300	30	2~3
E05	Matreier Europa Panoramaweg
E06	Defereggental Mills	9	400	400	~3
E07	Dorfertal Gorge and Valley	18	400	400	4~6
E08	St Veit and hamlets	9	350	350	3~4
E09	Neualpseen Lakes	7	320	320	3~4
E10	Turntaler Round	9.5	300	300	3~4
E11	St Nikolaus & Schloss Weissenstein	8	180	180	2`3
	Medium Routes
M01	Zedlacher Woodlands	7	540	540	3
M02	Stalle Alps Woodlands	12	580	580	3~4
M03	Clarahütte and Umbaikees Glacier	15	700	700	4~7
M04	Ochsenwaldweg	14.5	700	700
M05	Grosses Leppleskofel Peak	4	535	535	2~3
M07	The Steiner Almen Trail	8	620	620	3~4
M08	Gritzer Horndle Lakes	10	650	650	4~5
M09	Jagdhausalm Village	15	300	300	4~5
M10	Glorerhutte Circular	11	730	730	4~5
M11	Sudetendeutsche Hoheweg	23	800	200	6~8
M12	Gletscherweg Innergschloss	17	900	900	5~6
M13	Rotenkogel Peak	14	900	900	4~5
M14	Deffereggental Blumweg	15	800	800	4~5
M15	Rossguberkogel	14	680	680	4~5
M16	Turmlijoch Pass	12	650	1300	5~6
M17	Donnerstein Ridge	13.6	700	700	5~6
	Hard Routes
H01	St Poltner Hütte and Lake	13	1100	1100	4~5
H02	Lake Oberseitsee	16	1100	1100	5~6
H03	Grosses Degenhorn Peak	17	800	1095	4~5
H04	Rote Wand	10	980	980	5~6
H05	Bergersee Lake and Traverse	17	1000	1000	5~6
H06	Neuen Reichenburger Hütte Circular	20	1400	1400	7~8
H07	Boses Weibl Summit	15	1270	1270	7~8
H08	Almerhorn	21.6	1800	1800	6~8
H09	Below the Wildenkogel	18	1070	1200	5
H10	Kleiner Zunig	13	1400	1400	5~6
H11	Mauertal & Turmljoch Pass	19	1370	1370	6~7

Over 10 days of walking I completed 155 km with 7,200 meters of climbing.

Day To Distance Time Elevation in meters

Km Elapsed
Hrs-Mins Moving
Hrs-Mins Gain Loss Min Max

14 Jun
London Gatwick - Innsbruck

15 Jun Kleiner Zunig ~17 8H00 7H00 1,430 1,430 1,050 2,387

16 Jun Innergschloss & Ochsenwaldweg 18 6H30 704 704 1,505 2,029

17 Jun St Veit 12.46 5H02 403 403 1,248 1,566

18 Jun Gritzer Horndle 12.0 5H49 677 677 1,970 2,581

19 Jun Jagdhausalm Village 15.25 4H55 373 373 1,767 2,071

20 Jun Kals-Matreier-Torl-Haus 9.8 3H32 548 548 2,191 2,422

21 Jun Dorfertalsee 19.0 5H05 3H42 470 470 1,492 1,962

22 Jun Bergersee Lake and Traverse 19.34 7H30 1,172 1,172 1,290 2,345

23 Jun Lienz Sightseeing

24 Jun Clarahutte 18.29 4H35 4H06 681 681 1,406 2,087

25 Jun Donnerstein Ridge 14.03 5H06 759 759 2,091 2,694

26 Jun Zel am See Sightseeing

27 Jun Rest day in Matrei

28 Jun Innsbruck - London Gatwick

Total

155.17

7,217

7,217