03 Southern Alpine Trail, E22: Valentinalm - Hochweißsteinhaus
From the Valentinalm, the trail leads over the 2138 m high Valentintörl to the Wolayersee.
A view out of the window of the Valentinalm at breakfast has a motivating effect - blue skies over mighty rocky peaks and towers, magnificent, that's what you like to see! And that's how we'd like it to be for the whole day and the next few days.
The white limestone peaks, such as the Hohe Warte on the left and the Rauchkofel to the north, tower up mightily, with the northern side having a reddish tinge and looking more like crystalline rock. From Valentintörl, the route descends over a mighty but easily accessible snow field to the deep blue Volayersee lake, at the northern end of which the renovated Wolayerseehütte hut stands a few metres above the lake.
The route then continues mostly on the Italian side, where the markings are somewhat sparser than we were used to; not always very clear regarding the 03. At the junction of the Casera die Fleons die sopra, the route continues over the Öfner Joch on the Austrian side to the Hochweißsteinhaus. If you're lucky, you'll see shepherds with their dogs leading herds of sheep and goats across the mountain pastures on the Italian side.
Some impressions of the tour
Directions
GH Valentinalm (1205 m, K) - Valentintörl (2138 m, 4 km/2 ½ hrs.) - Wolayerseehütte (1987 m, K, 1 km/½ hrs.) - Giramondopass (1969 m, 4 km/1 ¾ hrs.) - Malga Fleons di sotto (1571 m, 6 km/2 hrs.) - Öfner Joch (2011 m, 4 km/1 ½ hrs.) - Hochweißsteinhaus (1867 m, K, 1 km/¼ hrs.)
K = checkpoint (stamp point).
Trail 403, 140/142, Via Alpina, 20 km/8 ½ hours, medium tour.
Location and how to find us
The Nassfeld-Pressegger See holiday region lies in the Austrian province of Carinthia, directly next to the Italian border.
