BergeSeen Trail 18: Bad Mitterndorf - Tauplitzalm

Just like the green foothills of the Dachstein Mountains, the Salzkammergut BergeSeen Trail also crosses the “alpine balcony” in the southern section of the Totes Gebirge Mountains. However, prior to ascending to the Tauplitzalm Meadow located at 1600 metres, which is considered the cradle of skiing in the Eastern Alps, you first explore the broad, flat valley floor between Bad Mitterndorf and Tauplitz. The “Hinterberg”, as this transition from the Salzkammergut to the Enns Valley is called, is also characterised by winter sports: at Kulm you will find one of the largest ski jumps in the world.

From the bus stop at the square below the parish church of Bad Mitterndorf, go south past the church stairs. Follow Koglergasse until you reach the underpass of the state highway. At the end of the path, turn left onto a trail that leads you to a railroad crossing.

 

Follow Neuhofenstraße until the first turnoff towards the heating plant. At the end of a small section of forest, turn right onto a road through a wooded area and over the Zauchen Stream. At a neighbourhood, cross Hörmannweg and continue hiking through level forest terrain. From the hamlet of Graben, go left on Krunglgrabenweg into the neighbourhood of Krungl (818 m).

 

At Hotel-Gasthof Kanzler, turn right in the direction of “Bahnhof Tauplitz” (sign for bike path R 19) and walk along the narrow asphalt street between fields towards the unmistakable cliff face of the 2351-metre-high Grimming Mountain. Below the Kulm Farm, go left towards “Furt, Tauplitz” and to the outrun area of the ski jump at Kulm, which is bypassed with a short left-hand curve (to the left you find the high moor of the wetlands). Continue briefly along the edge of the valley floor following the trail marker “Tauplitz”. Then go left to the Krunglbach Stream and the adjacent railroad underpass. After the underpass, go to the bypass road, which is also crossed underneath. Continue on Steinfeldweg through the neighbourhood of Furt and on Furthleitenweg into the village centre of Tauplitz (896 m). 2:30 h

 

Take Pötschnergasse to the car park at the valley station of the Tauplitz Chair Lift. Above it, turn left onto Hollamweg, from which you turn right onto Freibergweg after a curve to the left. Where this lane makes a sharp right, the route continues straight ahead along a gravel road and uphill over a meadow. After 1 kilometre you reach the asphalted Gnanitzweg on the right at a wood storage area. Turn left onto Gnantizweg and after approximately 200 metres, hiking trail no. 275 (sign “Steierersee, Linzer Tauplitzhaus”) begins to the left. The trail ascends – crossing two forest roads – through a continuously narrowing forest ravine to a meadow of the Niederblas and turns left over steep mixed-forest slopes up into the Lahner Ravine. Finally, hike through a sparse larch forest on the high ridge between the Mitterberg and Tauplitzalm (1520 m). High above Lake Steirersee, go left to the nearby Steiersee huts and continue uphill a short distance along the gravel road to the plateau of the Tauplitzalm mountain station (1645 m). To the left is the Linzer Tauplitzhaus of the Alpine Association. The asphalted road leads straight ahead for about 500 metres to the Naturfreundehaus Tauplitzalm and to other inns and accommodation facilities. There you will once again cross the long-distance Styrian hiking trail “From Glacier to Wine”. 2:30 h