Day 4: Turracher Höhe – Lärchenhütte

We slept very good and the bed was so comfortable that getting up was hard but we needed an early start because thunderstorm and rain were predicted…

Breakfast was also great, the best breakfast on the trail so far. There was even local honey from the Nockberge which we as beekeepers had of course to taste. So, stuffed and ready for today’s tour we headed to our starting point and the Nocky Flitzer station (honestly, that’s a thing 😅).

At first we walked a little alongside the lake for a few 100 metres before the trail started upwards. Right now the weather wasn’t too bad, only high fog and no rain. But we knew high fog meant that all the summits were in the middle of it.

The ascent was rather steep but nice to hike, especially with this wonderful scenery of the local flora.

But the higher we got the more fog accumulated around us, and very soon we were again engulfed in it. Our highlight of today, the Rinsennock with 2334m, was nowhere to be seen so we followed the markings and tried not to think of all the great views we might have had.

At around 9.30 a.m. we were at the top and the summit cross loomed ahead, blurred by all the fog. We only took some photos and continued. No use to enjoy a foggy view of nothing.

A short while below the summit we stopped for some tea but, again, without any far reaching view we pressed on.

The path down was fine and again the wonderful landscape of the Nockberge surrounded us. The air smelled of mountain pine and Speik – the best smell ever!

 

Soon we came to a part of the path we already knew from yesterday though this time it was a little less foggy down here than yesterday and we even saw a bit of the landscape ahead.

We hiked along the pasture, up and down in moderate levels and it was very enjoyable. Very distant we heard the rumble of the thunder but only once so we hoped for the best.

Around noon we arrived at the Prießhütte and stopped for something to drink and a piece of Carinthian Reindling.

And we decided to skip the next planned summit for today because every mountain top was dipped in fog.

At first we had to walk 2km on the Nockalmstraße and though it was rather quiet due to the bad weather there were some stupid motorbikers who overtook us with at least 70km/h. Insane madmen!!! 😡

Fortunately, we soon were on the hiking path again which lead at first through a crater field of a pasture. We hopped from one dry spot to the next and still got wet and dirty.

Thankfully, it soon became the lovely alpine pasture again and shortly the fog lifted so that we could admire the landscape once more. We also heard and saw some marmots!

Then the path turned into a rather steep ascent and we panted our way up to again 2150m (the Prießhütte was below 1700m!) to reach the Steinhöhe from where we crossed to the other side of the mountains.

Then we went down again and there it suddenly and rather heavily began to rain. We dressed us and our backpacks into raincoats and continued on, more slipping than hiking  on the wet and muddy ground. 20 minutes later it stopped and the sun came out. The sun, this bitchy traitor!

At around 3 p.m. we finally arrived at the Lärchenhütte. More by coincidence we found out yesterday that the innkeeper had died this week and that his funeral was exactly today. We called his wife and co-innkeeper to ask whether we should find another place to stay because we didn’t want to cause any trouble in these hard times for her. But she promised to send her colleague up to the hut.

When we arrived at the Lärchenhütte there were two elderly women sitting outside that told us that they were waiting for Heidi’s colleague to arrive and toasted to the deceased Mathias. We talked a while until she came and opened the hut. Later we all had dinner together while a big thunderstorm rolled over.

At 7 p.m. Felix and I were left alone at the hut. It was nice to have the hut all for ourselves but such a sad occasion! 😥 Mathias was only 54 years when he died of cancer.

Some figures:

  • 20km
  • 1200m up
  • 1330m down
  • Highest point: 2.334m (Rinsennock)
  • Rain: 20 minutes of downpour while outside and much longer of heavy rain when we were safe inside
  • Blueberries: so many that I considered to stay in the mountains and live of blueberries and spring water!

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