White Wall via Plotschkar from/to Gößl

Behind the “Rostiger Anker” inn, cross the bridge over the Toplitzbach and follow a green sign marked “Drei-Seen-Blick” to the left. At the next fork in the trail, keep to the far right; you’ll come to another signpost immediately afterward. Follow the wide Stimitzbach stream for a short distance, then continue straight ahead on a road into the forest. At the next fork, stay on the main path to the right; at the junction with the “Kräuter-Rundweg,” continue straight ahead until you reach a former gravel quarry. Here, follow a green sign marked “Drei-Seen-Blick,” which points to the right onto a footpath that initially climbs steeply but soon transitions into an old alpine trail with a pleasantly steady incline, from which you’ll have a beautiful view back toward the Grundlsee. After a small saddle in the beech forest, the alpine trail continues uphill and soon runs high above the Toplitzsee, which glimmers through the trees. At a fork in the trail, keep left and continue on a gentle uphill slope, passing several cairns. You’ll reach a forest road and follow it about 2 km to the left (signpost), partly slightly downhill, until, just before it ends, another green sign reading “Drei-Seen-Blick” points to the right. From here, you’re back on the old alpine trail, which crosses a slope diagonally uphill and then, in steep rocky terrain, climbs over a high ramp to clear a ridge. Shortly afterward, you’ll come to a signpost pointing left toward the “Drei-Seen-Blick,” which is only a few minutes’ walk away from here. However, you should continue straight ahead on the alpine trail—which is rarely used from this point on—uphill through the forest. In wide switchbacks, the trail climbs over a karst ridge, then levels off and continues straight ahead into a gully; soon, on its left side, it ascends diagonally uphill via a trail ramp, then later re-enters the gully and continues along it. The trail then winds in tight switchbacks through a rocky valley, ascending slightly to the left, past a small rock face with stone engravings from the previous century, then veers slightly to the right across a small karst plateau with sparse tree cover. Beyond that, follow a wide gully on level ground until a right-hand bend, where the trail leads higher over rocky outcrops and then winds steadily onward to a meadow basin, where typical karst gullies can be seen for the first time on both sides and the trail slopes diagonally upward to the right. Soon you’ll follow a karst gully again, passing stone cairns, until you reach a rocky cliff face, where the trail bends to the right and reaches a fork. To the left lies the path to the Lackenhütte; to the right, several stone cairns point toward Plotschkar, which you should follow

Now follow a barely discernible trail over a slope horizontally to the right (use GPS and the track!), then, following inconspicuous cairns, turn slightly left up onto a rocky ledge and walk along the lower edge of a prominent field of karst gullies. You cross a small rocky saddle, beyond which the trail descends to the right alongside a ravine, gradually veering slightly to the left between rocky cliffs and into a traverse along a stepped rock face that is part of the Hahnbühels, and thus reach a ledge that you descend via an old wooden ladder. Afterward, walk slightly downhill parallel to the base of the cliff into sparse mountain pine (red-dot markings) and continue straight ahead on a rocky trail. A distinct rock ramp leads slightly to the left and into denser mountain pine, where the trail is relatively clear. You reach a karst valley (cairns), into which you turn left and follow it uphill through rough, rocky terrain in a straight line to a pass. Beyond this, the trail descends steeply into the Großes Plotschkar with its expansive meadow.

Cross this meadow, leave the Plotschkar to the right rear via a grassy gully, and at the end of this gully, climb steeply over rough boulder terrain up to a rocky notch. Beyond that, continue following a karst gully up and down; it soon forks. First, head uphill along the right branch, then turn left onto the central ridge (cairn), before veering left into the side gully and following it uphill. At the upper end of this gully, ascend through the karst terrain to the left, passing through the mountain pines, and follow the cairns to a karst hilltop, where the Weiße Wand comes into view for the first time.

Behind the hilltop, follow the cairns through the karst terrain between the mountain pines to the right and climb directly toward the Weiße Wand, crossing crevices and shafts. Then head right down into a grassy karst gully and continue to its end; there, turn left through a passage of mountain pines and follow the cairns into a subsequent karst hollow. At the upper end of this hollow, you’ll see a meadow slope leading up to the base of the wall, which you should follow. Before reaching a scree field at the base of the wall, turn left and ascend over rocky grassy slopes, then traverse a scree field along chamois trails up to a side ridge with a mountain pine passage. Following the cairns, the route then climbs steeply to the left and up to a traverse around a rocky ridge. Beyond that, turn right and follow a rugged gully very steeply upward; then turn right back onto the ridgeline and follow it diagonally upward to a small ledge, which is crossed via easy climbing (distinctive cairn). Above this, the terrain becomes easier, and you ascend higher through grassy slopes interspersed with scree, following cairns. In a grassy gully with a rocky narrows, the trail leads upward to a rock face; below it, head diagonally to the right and continue steeply uphill over a grassy slope. As the terrain becomes increasingly level, you eventually reach the main ridge of the Weiße Wand, where the route continues gently to the right toward the west summit.

Total ascent time from Gößl: 6 hours.

For the return trip, follow the ascent route, which

is

not always

easy to find

even when heading in the opposite direction

.