Donnerwand - crossing

From the parking lot, cross the bridge and follow the Kalte Mürz downstream. The forest road passes a hunting lodge and winds through the forest. Just before the first power line crossing after the hunting lodge, a inconspicuous path branches off to the right on a flat spot of the roadside slope and goes uphill. This path is soon marked by cairns in the forest. It climbs steeply in switchbacks, goes slightly left over a railing ridge (here marked with yellow dots), then gradually back to the right, returning to the ridge and continuing along it uphill to a forest road. Follow this road to the right until the next bend, where you turn sharply left. At the following right fork, continue straight ahead and reach a large timber storage area on the left, offering a wide view over the valley. A few meters further, a pull path branches steeply uphill to the right into young forest, which you follow until you reach a small wooden hut. Behind the clearing, a path begins that leads half-right and diagonally uphill to a crossing in the pasture fence. Beyond that, continue uphill diagonally right across the pasture without a trail (sporadic red dot markings), until you reach a terrain threshold behind which is a small grassy cirque. From there, it is not far to the Taborsattel with a fence crossing at its lowest point.

Behind the fence, climb left on the slope, first passing the left edge of a large group of trees, then in a slightly changed direction, passing right under the dwarf pines, until you reach the clearly defined ridge line, which the further ascent to the Donnerwand basically follows. First, it goes up a wide path through dwarf pines along the ridge, then a little right of it slightly downhill to a large clearing. Cairns indicate the way here. At the left upper edge of this clearing, a dwarf pine path starts again, this time slightly left of the ridge, which you follow. At the following small clearing, the dwarf pine path curves right back to the ridge and leads up to a mountain meadow beneath the widely visible summit cross of the Donnerwand.

For the descent towards Griesleitensattel, follow some cairns pointing downhill south, first left near the rock edge, then a little more right beside the dwarf pines, until a dwarf pine path turns back left (cairns). Then descend steeply over a meadow near the cliff edge to a flat section, then becoming steeper again down to sparse dwarf pine stands, where a well-defined cattle trail comes from the right and leads left downhill to the Griesleitensattel.

At the lowest point of the saddle, a faint path branches left and goes flat into the dwarf pines, briefly even slightly uphill, before merging into a wide dwarf pine path with cairns, which leads left down into the Kleinbodengraben ("Kitzsteig"). At a right bend, the dwarf pine path narrows and the path is clearly visible from here. It winds downhill into the valley in switchbacks. You reach a water channel, which you follow downhill for a few meters, then take the path to the right back into the dwarf pines. Just above the valley floor, a large scree field marked by cairns is crossed diagonally downward, before the path turns left and reaches the usually dry creek bed here. On the other side, you can either climb steeply up the embankment to the hiking trail above or follow the creek bed flat downstream to the place where the marked trail crosses it. Then follow the marked hiking trail downhill into the valley of the Kalte Mürz and turn left there to return to the starting point on a forest road.