Geierkogel northeast couloir from the Triebental (steep descent)

The approach via the Kälberhütte up to the upper Braunkar is identical to the route to the Triebenkogel.

Behind the inn Braun, you cross a flat meadow and it is best to keep more to the left in order to avoid the forest road, which here becomes snow-free quite early. At the edge of the forest, you reach a large information board offering an overview of ski tours in the region. You follow the forest road gently ascending along the Ardlingbach stream to the first hairpin bend, and there go straight ahead along the stream and then continue through the forest until you reach a pull path leading to the large alpine pasture at the Kälberhütte. At the junction with this pull path, you get your first clear view of the Geierkogel and its NE couloir. At the Kälberhütte, it is best to stay on the right (north) side of the stream during the ascent until you reach a forest track and yellow information boards. From here on, the ascent to the upper Braunkar essentially follows the summer marking to the Wirtstörl.

In the upper Braunkar, you leave the ascent route to the Triebenkogel and continue straight ahead into the valley until the ravine on the right side is shallow enough to cross it without difficulty. From a small ridge before this ravine, you have a particularly good view of the Geierkogel and the NE couloir. Through larch bushes, you first head toward the outlet of the couloir to lay an ascent track up to the base of the wall on the right (north) side of the couloir. It is often advisable to take a wide arc, but in any case, pay special attention to potential slab avalanche danger here. In very warm conditions, wet snow slides can also increasingly become a concern the further up the slope you go. As soon as you reach the base of the wall, you cross left (south) to the exit of the actual couloir, where there is a sheltered standing place under the rocks. Here you put on crampons and the rockfall helmet.

The further ascent takes place with skis on the backpack as far as possible along the left (southern) edge of the couloir.

At the very top near the exit, a cornice can become a difficult obstacle. If it is not possible to exit directly over the cornice, you must veer upwards to the left, but this leads into very steep terrain (nearly 50 degrees), where extremely focused climbing is required.

After exiting the couloir, there are only a few more meters to the summit cross on easy walking terrain.

Depending on conditions, the ascent from the starting point to the summit can take up to 5 hours in total if you have to break trail yourself.

The descent through the couloir is then the real highlight of this route.

After the descent, follow the ascent track in the cirque down to the Kälberhütte. Slightly before, you will encounter numerous descent tracks from the Triebenkogel.

Below the Kälberhütte, follow the forest road downhill to the fork to the marked summer path, which you can also follow with skis through a narrow passage in the forest. However, after the mental and physical exertion of a tour through the NE couloir of the Geierkogel, I recommend continuing comfortably and relaxed along the forest road, initially very gently and later with a pleasant gradient downhill, to finally return to the starting point over the large meadow near the inn Braun.