Seichenbrunn - Kruckelkopf

Access to starting point:
Through the Karawanks Tunnel, we drive to Austria, and then we continue driving towards Spittal and forward towards Lienz (a little after Spittal highway ends). Further, we drive on a relatively nice and wide road through Drau valley. A little before Lienz at the roundabout, we continue right towards the settlement Iselsberg and Winklern. The road starts ascending, and then we have to pay attention because the road soon branches off to the left towards the valley Debanttal (green sign). The road towards the valley Debanttal becomes a macadam, and later joins a bit nicer road from the settlement Nußdorf-Debant. When driving through the valley Debanttal we then follow the signs for mountain hut Lienzer Hütte and Wangenitzseehütte. We follow the road all the way to a gate where we park on a large parking lot (Parkplatz Seichenbrunn).

Path description:
From the parking lot, we continue on a macadam road which is closed for traffic. Already after few ten meters, we come to a marked crossing where we continue right over a bridge following the signs »Wangenitzseehütte«. Straight on a macadam road leads the path towards the mountain hut Linzer Hütte.
Our path then turns right and it ascends on a grassy slope and brings us into the forest. For some time we then walk on a wide path which runs towards the east, and then signposts point us to the left and the path starts ascending steeper. The path here runs mostly on grassy slopes by thinner forest. Higher, we then cross the fence and the path brings us on the mountain pasture where in the summer months livestock is grazing.
The path here becomes less steep and crosses grassy slopes below the cargo cableway towards the northwest. From the path, we have here nice view mainly on mountains above the valley Debanttal. The path from the mountain pasture then turns slightly to the right and again starts ascending steeper and it brings us to a marked crossing.
Left leads the path towards the mountain hut Linzer Hütte, and we continue right towards the mountain hut Wangenitzseehütte. The path from the crossing then crosses little steeper slopes below the summit Feldkopf towards the east, and then follows again a little steeper ascent to the notch Untere Seescharte.
On the notch where a view opens up towards the east path slightly descends and past high mountain lakes Kreuzsee and Wangenitzsee brings us to the hut Wangenitzseehütte.
At the mountain hut, we continue towards the northeast following the signs »Petzeck«. After a short ascent, the path brings us to a marked crossing where we go left upwards following the signs »Kruckelkopf«, and straight leads the path towards the summit Petzeck.
From the crossing, the path starts ascending towards the north on at first still grassy slope. At the ascent we have to pay attention to blazes, because footpath is poorly visible. Higher, the path brings us on a rocky slope where we soon come to a crossing, which is very hard to notice. Straight through the valley leads a marked path towards the notch Perschitzscharte, and slightly right upward direct path towards the summit Kruckelkopf. Which path to choose depends mainly from snow conditions. The path from the notch towards the summit is quite steeper, but is also a lot sooner without snow.
In case if we decide to continue on the path towards the notch will path lead on the right side of the valley. At the ascent to the notch we can also in the summer cross some snow field, which is less steep than at direct path towards the summit. In spite of that is in case of hard snow recommended to use ice axe and crampons.
When we come on notch Perschitzscharte, we continue right upward on a ridge. Here we will in vain looking for blazes, because the path from the notch towards the summit isn't marked. Occasionally we will by the ridge notice only some cairns. The ascent on the ridge is otherwise quite steep and then follows some easy short climbing by the ridge. Ridge then becomes less steep and then follows an undemanding ascent to the top.
Blazes, which we will notice on the summit shouldn't mislead us, because they don't lead back to the notch Perschitzscharte.
We can descend on the ascent route through notch Perschitzscharte or on a marked path on southwestern slopes of the mountain. If we descend on a marked path we have to take into account, that on the path late in the summer there can still be snow fields and that we will very likely need an ice axe and crampons.

On the way: Untere Seescharte (2533m), Kreuzsee (2483m), Wangenitzsee (2465m), Wangenitzseehütte (2508m), Perschitzscharte (2979m)