Türlwandhütte - Seethalerhütte (Johann Klettersteig)

Access to starting point:
Through the Karawanks Tunnel, we drive to Austria, and then we continue driving on Tauern highway. Further, we drive through the tunnel Katschberg and later also Tauern tunnel, and the highway towards Salzburg we follow only to exit for Radstadt, Schladming. We continue on the road to the settlement Schladming where we then continue left on an ascending road following the signs Ramsau. In the settlement Ramsau, we continue a good 2 km on the mentioned road, and then we turn right on a payable road, where signs for cable car point us to. We follow this road all the way to a large parking lot in front of the bottom station of the cable car.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we continue past the bottom cableway station following the signs Südwandhütte. The path at first leads on the right side of the cableway through a thin larch forest, later turns to the left and crosses slopes towards the west. Soon the path towards the climbing garden (Klettergarten) branches off to the right. We still cross the slopes towards the west and from the left joins the path from a lower starting point. From the crossing then follows approximately 10 minutes of walking on a scenic slope to the mountain hut Südwandhütte.
From the mountain hut, we continue by following the signs for »Johann Klettersteig« and in a gentle descent, we cross a slope towards the north. The path quickly brings us to a crossing where the path branches off to the left downwards towards the climbing path Anna. We still continue straight and we soon come on the scree. Here the path turns left and starts ascending. The further path is mostly slightly ascending and crosses slopes towards the west. Later, the path brings us on a smaller saddle, where from the left joins the climbing path Anna, which leads over the peak Mitterstein.
The path which is marked with red dots then still crosses slopes towards the west. In the early summer on this part of the path, snow fields are still possible. The path then turns to the right and it ascends on the scree to the entrance into the climbing path Johann Klettersteig.
Climbing path at first ascends by the steel cable towards a wall (difficulty C), after that a short crossing to the left follows, which brings us to the initial overhang, which is the most difficult spot on the whole path (difficulty E). Through the overhang there are iron spikes for help, but in spite of that at the ascent, we need a lot of strength in arms. From the overhang, which isn't too long follows a steep ascent with the help of iron spikes (difficulty D). For a short time, the path becomes slightly easier (difficulty B), and then it again steeply ascends by the steel cable (difficulty C/D). Further, the path is for quite some time ascending on a steep slope (difficulty to B/C) and it brings us to a short less steep part, where it is possible to rest.
The path again becomes demanding and is at first ascending by the steel cable (C) and it brings us to an even steeper part of the path. Further, we are for quite some time ascending on a mostly vertical wall upwards, and we get help from numerous iron spikes (C/D). Higher when we come to the spot named Adlerhorst (2470 meters), the path becomes even more exposed and ascends on vertical smooth wall upwards (D). The vertical ascent is relatively long, but also on this part of the path, we get help from numerous iron spikes, which make the ascent easier. The path then brings us on a little wider ledge on which there are a lot of stones, therefore we have to be very careful, not to trigger stones.
On the ledge, the path turns slightly to the right and after a shorter steep ascent (C/D) brings us to the inscription box at an altitude 2500 meters. Further, the path becomes a little less demanding and only occasionally steeply ascends. In the last part of the path towards the mountain hut more demanding parts are becoming more frequent (difficulty to D). At the very end of the climbing path Johann follows an exposed exit traverse, which brings us to the hut Seethalerhütte. At the mountain hut, which is located right next to glaciers a beautiful view opens up towards the north and on mountains above the glacier.
The described path is extremely demanding and is graded with a difficulty level E. The path is also relatively long, therefore it is appropriate only for experienced mountaineers who are fit enough and have a lot of strength in arms.
We descend on a settled path which leads on a glacier towards the upper station of the cable car. Instead of using a cableway we can descend also on foot through a notch Hunerscharte (difficulty B).

On the way: Dachstein Südwand Hütte (1910m)

Trip can be extended to: Hoher Dachstein (3 h)