01 North Alpine Trail, E25 (alpine): Werfen - Matras-Haus

Near the church in Werfen we climb steeply to the Dielalm. From here mainly over alpine pastures along a ridge that continuously ascends and then descends. After the Blienteckalm to the Ostpreußenhütte (1,628 m, managed from mid-May to the end of October, open winter room). An overnight stay here would be possible; in any case, we will have to decide whether the weather for the next two days is good enough for a long high-altitude hike over 2,500 m above sea level. If in doubt, switch to the A-variant along the foot of the Königsstock!

From here into alpine rocky terrain and through mountain pines steeply uphill into the Gamskar and up into the Steingrube. Always ascending until we reach the Hochkönig plateau below the Floßkogel (2,437 m). On the left a bivouac cave (2,414 m). Now slightly gentler uphill, often over snowfields. At the end it gets steeper again, and we take a short secured climb, after which we stand on the summit of the Hochkönig together with the Matras-Haus (2,941 m, managed from June to October, open winter room). Hopefully (if the weather cooperates) we will enjoy from this, our highest current summit (unless we have included the Hoher Dachstein), a magnificent view of over 200 three-thousanders of the Central Alps.

The valley-close easy A-variant can be found here.