Stage 22 From Glacier to Wine North Route Pretul Rosegger Schutzhaus - Fischbach

The hike in comfortable and above all also healthy altitude between 1,000 and 1,700 meters above sea level fascinates with your panoramas over eastern Austria and surprises again and again with places and places where one can settle down with pleasure and enjoy nature once in all peace. Particularly impressive and lasting is certainly the insight into old traditions of rural as well as urban life at the end of the 19th century at the memorials of Peter Rosegger. On the one hand, the forest school on the Alpl, which was built by a fundraising campaign of Peter Rosegger in 1902. Peter Rosegger's goal at that time was to provide the predominantly rural population on the Alpl with a good school education and thus to counteract the rural exodus. After classes were discontinued due to a lack of students in 1975, the house was renovated and has been a museum since 1982. The schoolroom as well as the Rosegger room have been preserved in their original state. The forest school also houses the Austrian Hiking Museum.

On the other hand, the birthplace of Peter Rosegger, located about 1/2 hour walk away - directly on the hiking route "From Glacier to Wine" - where we gain insight into the hard, but according to stories, despite all the challenges, also very happy life of the Roseggers throughout. At the "Vorderer Kluppeneggerhof" of the Roseggers, everyone worked from morning to night. Peter Rosegger was to have six siblings - but four of them died at an early age. He himself stayed with his beloved mother for 17 years until he was apprenticed to the master tailor Ignaz Orthofer. The farm included residential buildings, stables for 20 cattle, 8 pigs, 25 sheep and chickens. Sheds, barns, tool and pantries. There was also a dowry. When Peter's parents unfortunately had to sell everything in 1868 out of necessity, they moved there. The province of Styria acquired the birthplace in 1927 and maintains it to this day as a memorial that inspires young and old more than ever because of our extremely fast-paced and hectic times.

We are also moving here on a stage of the BergZeitReise circular tour, which leads through the wildly romantic mountain landscape of Hochsteiermark.

From the Rosegger Schutzhaus (Tel. +43 3170 522) on the Pretul, we first hike along the ridge of the Fischbacher Alps with wonderful views toward the Veitsch and Hochschwab on the one hand, and the Joglland-Waldheimat region in eastern Styria on the other, toward Steinriegel, an alpine pasture that is home to one of the highest wind farms in Austria. The wind farm generates a total of 79 gigawatt hours of electricity per year, supplying around 33,800 households with clean power. In the face of these imposing structures, the trail leads us further downhill to the Hauereck with its small but fine refuge of the same name, which also offers overnight accommodation (Tel. +43 664 4420042). In winter, the Hauereck above the small village of St. Kathrein am Hauenstein is a popular ski area with a four-seater chairlift and drag or magic carpet lifts.

From Hauereck we continue on this stage of the hiking route "From Glacier to Wine" through shady deep green forests via the Kathreiner Alm and the Jägerhöhe to the Alpl, where we arrive directly at the forest school (Tel. +43 3855 8238) with the small but highly interesting hiking museum. After the visit, for which we should really take our time, we now hike uphill along a narrow path laid out in serpentines to the birthplace (Tel. +43 3855 8230) of the poet and writer. The importance of Peter Rosegger as a literary figure can be seen from the fact that in his time his books were the best-selling after those of Jules Verne. The grounds of the Klupeneggerhof not only invite you to visit the museum, but the location also makes you want to take a well-deserved rest with a magnificent view of the Fischbach Alps, which we have hiked through in the last hours and days on our Vom Gletscher zum Wein hiking route. Tip. In the Rother-Verlag hiking guide, the route is not described via the birthplace, but the shortcut leading across a road. Our tip: You really should have seen the birthplace when you are on the Alpl.

From Peter Rosegger's birthplace, we now hike further downhill on the 06 trail, which as the Mariazeller Weg leads in the opposite direction from the south of Austria to the well-known pilgrimage site of Mariazell, to the prominent trail junction at the Lendkreuz. This section is also known as the Christmettenweg. Peter Rosegger often went with his parents and siblings to his favorite church in St. Kathrein am Hauenstein - also for Christmas mass. The Christmettenweg, named after this annual walk to mass, is still walked together by many people at Christmas with torches. Note: If you want to shorten the stage, you would also have the possibility to go directly from the forest school to the Lendkreuz. In this case, the path leads along the road with little traffic past the Waldesruh Inn (Tel. +43 3855 8207) to the crossroads called Lendkreuz.

At the Lendkreuz, however, we keep to the right and continue hiking - now uphill again - along the 06 path in the direction of Fischbach / Teufelstein. After about 2.5 km we reach another crossroads, where we leave the 06 path and walk straight ahead along the downhill Alpsteig to the farm vlg. Ofenlurger farm. Finally, we walk along a municipal road with a beautiful view of Joglland to the beautifully situated village of Fischbach at the foot of the Teufelstein, a geological phenomenon as well as a mystical place of power. The next day: a journey further through the Fischbach Alps towards the Almenland Nature Park.