Bruderkogel via Zinkenkogel and Lake Geißrink

From the parking lot, hike along the access road to the Forsthaus Pölsen and further into the valley towards Pölsenhube. At the Lippbaueralm, continue straight on a skid road. Soon the path crosses the creek and leads uphill west of it over a large meadow until you discover an old sign high up at the forest edge. Here the path makes a sharp turn to the left and ascends westward towards Pölskar. After about 500 meters, you reach a heavily eroded water channel. Here, the (former) marking leaves the skid road and branches uphill to the right at a sharp angle. This junction is marked with a large cairn, but the following path is rather indistinct. It first leads diagonally to the right uphill between alders and then turns steeply uphill in small steps directly against the slope. A little higher, you reach the sparse remains of an old cart track, which now ascends diagonally to the right behind a ridge and past a hunting stand standing close to the path and near a deeply incised watercourse. The trail continues diagonally uphill from the hunting stand onto a small grassy plateau that is open to the right. Here you leave the ascent to go first level to the right and then descend a few meters to reach the shore of Lake Geißrink.

From Lake Geißrink, walk back a short distance and then climb directly up a steep dry meadow where you meet the ascent track again. It is important not to go right but straight ahead or slightly left (west) up to the saddle where you find signboards and the marked route from Kleiner Bösenstein. This is where you reach the Perwurzpolster.

At the saddle, turn west and follow the marking to Zinkenkogel, which bypasses Perwurzgupf to the north. Shortly after, the summit cross of Zinkenkogel is reached.

From Zinkenkogel, descend trackless along a ridge directly south to a broad saddle that drops steeply into Pölskar to the east. At the saddle, trail traces begin, which lead along the edge of the drop or slightly to the right (west) to the next elevation, bypassing a rocky section on the uppermost part on the right. Later, you climb steeply left to a survey pole on the summit of Steinwandkogel with a very nice view.

Then continue directly eastward down a clearly visible path where an old cart track is soon reached. Follow it right (south) back to the ridge and further down to the next saddle. The continuation of the cart track down to the cirque of Schüttneralm is clearly visible in the landscape.

However, do not follow this cart track but stay on the ridge and continue south on it until clear path traces and a marking pole lead diagonally right into a traverse on the west side of the slope. Slightly ascending, follow the traverse until you see more poles to the left above and then three large stone pyramids right on the ridge, which you climb up to. This bypasses the Schüttnerkogel projecting far to the east.

From the stone pyramids, descend south into the next saddle and then stay directly on the ridge, as a slope traverse at the last sub-peak is not worthwhile. Cross a rocky peak and descend along the ridge again to stand at the last saddle before the final climb to the summit of Bruderkogel, which you now approach slightly right (west) to reach the highest point with the summit cross.

On the descent from Bruderkogel, follow the marking east that initially leads downhill on a steep ridge. Further down, two forest roads end directly on the descent path (once from the left, once from the right), but stay fairly directly on the fall line, even if the path becomes fairly indistinct at times. Pass a game fence on the left going downhill and reach another forest road through dense underbrush, which you cross. A few meters below, you meet a clear path in the sparse forest leading left (north) and now marked again. This path soon turns right downhill and ends again at a forest road, which you follow left downhill through several switchbacks until you reach a fork at a creek crossed by a wooden bridge. On the other side of the creek, continue downhill on a skid road to a forest road, which leads down to the fork in the valley with signposts towards Bruderkogel and Perwurzsattel. From there, return right on the access road to the parking lot.