| Start | Bärental (Parking: 1152m) |
| Valley base | Ferlach |
| Distance | 3km (one way) |
| Height gain | 512m |
| Grade | 1–2 |
| Time | 1½hrs (+1hr return) |
| Location | South of Feistritz |
Although this is only a very short walk, it gives a good introduction to the area. But you will either need your own transport to get there, hitch a lift, or take a taxi. Alternatively you could walk all the way from Feistritz.
The Klagenfurter Hut
The narrow road south of Feistritz through the Bärental leads to a small parking area at a junction marked Stouhütte (960m). This is about 6.5km from the village and a sign there suggests it will take 2hrs to walk to the Klagenfurter Hut. Continue heading south, and the paved road deteriorates to a stony track before coming to a larger parking area shortly before a barrier closes the track to public use. This is where the walk begins.
Since the continuing track goes all the way to the hut, detailed description is unnecessary, except where a recommended alternative path is offered. At first rising and winding through mixed woodland, mountain views appear about 15mins from the car park. In another 35mins you come to a signed junction at about 1425m, where a path breaks away across screes to the south. This leads to the Hochstuhl klettersteig (3hrs to the summit from here).
Leave the track at this point and take a footpath ahead, edging the screes. This soon climbs steeply through woodland to regain the track at a bend. Almost immediately leave the track again where the path resumes steeply up the wooded hillside, returning to the track at a much higher point. Walk along the track for another 4mins, then take an unmarked path which rises above it, cuts across pastures with lovely open views of the wall of frontier peaks off to the right, and rejoins the track once more for the final few metres to the Klagenfurter Hut.
The hut commands a panoramic view of frontier peaks sweeping to the south, from nearby Bielschitza to the Hochstuhl and beyond to the west – abrupt white limestone peaks erupting from great fans of scree.
Hochstuhl, seen in profile across the screes from the trail to Bielschitzasattel