Gesäuse Hüttenrunde

From the abbey town the path climbs the Veitlgraben to the Kaiserau plateau, past the Klinkehütte and over the Kalblinggatterl onto the meadows of the Flitzenalm. Below you the south face of the Admonter Reichenstein, the summit that climbers long considered unclimbable, first ascended from these very pastures in 1873. The day ends on the ridge of the Treffneralm, where the Mödlinger Hütte sits at 1,523 metres with an open view over the Großer Ödstein and Sparafeld.

The morning drops into the Bergsteigerdorf Johnsbach, where the churchyard against the church hill is Austria's largest mountaineers' cemetery: a century and a half of climbers who fell on the walls you are now walking under. Past the waterfall on the Schattseitenweg the trail climbs through larch woodland to the Ennsecksattel, and the Hesshütte appears at 1,699 metres, an oasis of grass pressed under the rock walls of the Hochtor group.

The longest day crosses the Sulzkarhund at 1,821 metres, the highest point of the whole round, and drops through the lonely Sulzkar past the Sulzkarsee. The old forest road follows the Hartelsgraben, where the stream gathers size and voice through a chain of waterfalls, after which the path climbs again under the Tamischbachturm to the Ennstaler Hütte at 1,543 metres, the oldest hut of the Gesäuse, on a ridge seat facing the wild north side of the Hochtor group.

Down through the Butterbründl to the Enns valley at Gstatterboden, where the Nationalpark Pavillon explains the Planspitze walls across the river. The Rauchbodenweg runs high above the Enns with views straight down into the gorge, then the day's honest climb begins: 930 metres of switchbacks through forest to the Buchsteinhaus, an eagle's nest of a hut at 1,571 metres under the Buchstein walls, and after the descent to the valley floor the evening climb to the Haindlkarhütte at 1,121 metres closes the day in the shadow of the north faces.

The morning descends the Haindlkar to the valley road, where the Gesäuse Sammeltaxi (book two hours ahead) covers the stretch to the Buchauer Sattel. From there the path climbs over the Grabneralm, a nostalgic alm with a sun terrace, and then along a ridge with views to the Gesäuse, the Dachstein and the Glockner group. The final steep steps under the Admonter Warte reach the Admonterhaus at 1,723 metres, the highest hut of the Gesäuse, above the rooftops of Admont.

The day starts with a long beech-forest descent to Hall, then crosses the Mühlau meadows to the Pyhrgasgatterl, where the trail crosses from Styria into Upper Austria and back along the foot of the Haller Mauern. No inn on the way, so carry water: the forest road climbs steadily to the Rohrauerhaus at 1,308 metres, a quiet hut on the saddle meadow with the limestone towers of the Haller Mauern above it.

The last day keeps things gentle: over the Bacher Alm and the Ardning Alm, where the terrace still looks back at the Haller Mauern, then down through Ardning and along the Enns cycle path to Frauenberg. At the Mödringer bridge the route crosses the Enns and follows the river downstream through the rock gate into Admont, where the abbey library, the largest monastic library of the world, is worth an extra day of your life.