Klippitztörl - Gertrusk (Saualpe) (via Geierkogel)

Access to starting point:
A) Over the border crossing Ljubelj we drive to Austria and follow the signs for Celovec / Klagenfurt am Wörthersee. In Celovec at McDonalds we go right on the south bypass road / Südring, and at the next larger crossroad we go once again right in the direction towards Velikovec / Völkermarkt and Mostič / Brückl. The road towards Velikovec we soon leave because a little after the store Obi we turn right in the direction of highway and Mostič. Further, we go past the store Ikea, where we follow the signs for Mostič and we go past the turn-offs to the highway. When we get to Mostič we follow the signs for Svinec / Eberstein and Hüttenberg. Still before Hüttenberg, more precisely after the settlement Mösel we turn right towards the mountain pass Klippitztörl and settlement Lölling. Further, we start considerably ascending through the valley of the stream Löllingbach, and higher after the settlement Lölling, we gradually go away also from the stream. We follow this road all the way to mountain pass Klippitztörl, where we turn right and we park on a larger asphalt parking lot.
B) Over the border crossing Jezerski Vrh, Holmec or Vič we drive to Austria, and then we follow the signs for Velikovec / Völkermarkt, and from there we follow the signs for Mostič / Brückl. When we get to Mostič we follow the signs for Svinec / Eberstein and Hüttenberg. Still before Hüttenberg, more precisely after the settlement Mösel we turn right towards the mountain pass Klippitztörl and settlement Lölling. Further, we start considerably ascending through the valley of the stream Löllingbach, and higher after the settlement Lölling, we gradually go away also from the stream. We follow this road all the way to mountain pass Klippitztörl, where we turn right and we park on a larger asphalt parking lot.

Path description:
At the beginning of the parking lot, signs for Geierkogel, Wolfsbergerhütte, Forstalpe and other destinations point us on a path which continues above the parking lot and leads us towards the south. We at first walk on a wide mountain path (not road), which is ascending only gently, and after we cross a macadam road, the path gradually becomes slightly steeper and it brings us to a marked crossing.
We continue left in the direction of the peak Geierkogel (right path bypasses the mentioned peak) and we are ascending through a thinner forest. A little further, we once again cross the forest road, and then the path becomes steep and it is ascending among blueberries, and with every step, we have a better view. Higher, the path brings us to a wire fence, and right from it, we get to the cross on Geierkogel.
From the cross on Geierkogel we continue towards the south and at first, we are still ascending a little, and we quickly get to the highest point, where on the right on an interesting granite rocks we notice an inscription box with a stamp.
From here the path gradually starts descending, and somewhere on the lowest point of the saddle, from the right joins also the path which on the west side bypasses Geierkogel.
We continue towards the south and we gradually start ascending. When we ascend on 2000 meters of altitude, we soon on the right notice an interesting natural window, where there is the stamp of the peak Forstalpe. We continue on a marked path, and soon on the left we notice a smaller hill, where there is the highest point of the mentioned peak, and the peak we recognize by number 398.
From the top of Forstalpe, the path leads quite gently towards the southwest and on a grassy and partly swampy part brings us to a crossing on Hafeneck, where we continue slightly right in the direction of Ladinger Spitz (left - Kleinhinterbergerhütte).
The path ahead continues without large changes in altitude, and the ridge then narrows a little, and the path leads with some short easy ascents and descents. When we get very close to a grassy summit Kienberg, the marked path turns a little to the right and bypasses the highest point, to which we ascend in less than a minute of walking from the marked path.
We go on a marked path which continues on a grassy ridge and gradually we get to a fence, along which we start descending to the saddle at the cross Eisernes Kreuz (1958 meters), where also the path from the hut Weissbergerhütte joins.
We continue towards the south, and the path splits. We choose the slightly left path (right path bypasses the peak Gertrusk), which on the ridge in few minutes ascends on panoramic Gertrusk.
The starting point - Geierkogel 1:00, Geierkogel - Forstalpe 1:10, Forstalpe - Kienberg 0:40, Kienberg - Gertrusk 0:45.
Description and pictures refer to a condition in August 2020.

On the way: Geierkogel (Svinška planina / Saualpe) (1917m), Forstalpe (Svinška planina / Saualpe) (2034m), Hafeneck (2030m), Kienberg (Svinška planina / Saualpe) (2050m), Eisernes Kreuz (1958m)

Trip can be extended to: Ladinger Spitze (Saualpe) ( 35 min)