Schladminger Tauern Trail

The Schladminger Tauern Trail is a trailrun of the "x-Treme" category and is only suitable for very advanced trailruners and pros. The route is identical with the 5-day (!) hiking tour on the Schladminger Tauern High Trail. This trail almost exclusively runs along narrow paths and high alpine trails. Some sections have steel ropes for security reasons while you are running through highly exposed terrain. On top of that, you may encounter residual snow fields on the higher located passages also during the summer months.

Starting point of this route is Hochwurzenhütte on the summit of Hochwurzen (1,852 m). From Schladming you take the Planai buses to the valley terminal from where the cable-car takes you up to the summit. Alternatively you can take Hochwurzen Trail (trailrun #6 equal to hiking trail #60) to the top (an additional 720 m in vertical ascent, about 1 hour).

Via »Kleine Wurzen« and Hüttecksattel mountain saddle you run to Rossfeld from where you descend to Latterfußsattel and ascend back up to Guschen (1,982 m). Via trail #773 you reach Hochfeldmandl (a big stone pile) and continue along the rough flanks of Schiedeck summit (very exposed terrain!). Passing by Klammsee and Brettersee lakes you reach Ignaz-Mattis-Hütte (1,986 m) above Lower Giglachsee lake.

To the left (trail #702) you run to the eastern shore of the lake where you continue south (trails #702/#775) towards Rotmandlspitze summit. You run up into Vetternkar cirque - passing by ruins of miners' housing (up to the 19th century this area was the main mining district of the region). From the ruins the trail ascends steeply via several switchbacks. Be careful, the surface of the trail is made up of loose stones! you then reach the summit of Rotmandlspitze (2.453 m). Below »Sauberg« mountain you run across an extensive scree section and reach Kruckeckscharte ridge from where you descend into Neualmkar cirque and to Keinprechthütte (1,872 m).

From the hut the trail takes you out above the cirque and makes a wide loop up to Trockenbrotscharte ridge (2,237 m). From the ridge you quickly reach Landawirseehütte and run down into Göriachwinkel cirque. From there the trail ascends quite steeply to Gollingscharte ridge (2,326 m) - the last part usually still having residual snow fields in early summer. From the ridge you then run down through a large scree slope and reach Gollingwinkel (a natural amphi theatre at the foot of Hochgolling's north face). From there it only takes you a couple of minutes to Gollinghütte (1,641 m).

From Gollinghütte to Greifenbergsattel ridge one of the most challenging parts is waiting for you. The trail up to the mountain saddle is very steep with 800 meters in vertical ascent to cover. Once you reach the mountain saddle with a small lake it only takes a couple of minutes more to the highest point of the entire Schladminger Tauern Trail - Greifenberg at an elevation of 2,618 m. From Greifenberg summit the trail takes you downhill into Klafferkessel - a high alpine lake plateau. The trail down is rocky with loose stones and a couple of steel ropes for security reasons - be very careful here!!

Klafferkessel lake plateau is abounding in water and core of Wild Waters Untertal in Rohrmoos. Passing by several lakes and the iconic rock formation of Greifenstein you then descend into Lämmerkare cirques via Klafferscharte ridge. Running out of the cirques you reach Preintalerhütte and Waldhornalm (1,656 m) mountain refuges.

Make a right at the huts and then a left, crossing over the creek onto »Höfertsteig« trail, which takes you to Neualm – a privat mountain hut. There, follow trail #781 towards Planai. Passing by the trail intersection Kaltenbach (at 2,040 m) and running below the summits of Ulmspitze, Hasenkarspitze, Sonntagerhöhe, Seerieszinken and Krahbergzinken you finally reach Planai and Schladminger Hütte (1,828 m).

From Schladminger Hütte you take the cable-car down to Schladming. Alternatively you can run down World Cup Trail Planai or hiking trails #779/#53 (about 1,080 meters in vertical descent).