Porze Crossing

Starting point is a (free, fenced) parking lot (at 1,675m), in the immediate vicinity of Klapfsee, which you reach after about 20 minutes driving time, via a gravel forest road from Obertilliach.

You hike from Klapfsee (1,680m), following the signpost ("Shortcut Porze Hut – Path") located immediately after the wooden bridge on the left side, in just under 35 minutes to the Porze Hut (1,942m).

The path to the hut runs along a steadily ascending hiking trail in the thinning forest, initially with artificial wooden steps, and leads over a large, beautiful plateau ("Bear Bath" – signpost is directly on this area at 1,830m), as well as some shortcuts that repeatedly cross the gravel forest road and some small streams.

About 150m before the Porze Hut there is a large wooden sign (“Porze via Tilliacher Joch”) – either you turn sharply left from the forest road onto the gravel serpentine path – or you choose the shorter but steeper variant. For the shorter variant (see track), you hike directly to the Porze Hut and turn right onto the hiking trail before the fence. The path initially leads over a flatter, broad ridge, then ascends steeper and eventually merges into the gravel path at about 2,050m.

Subsequently, you reach the Tilliacher Joch ("Passo Dignas" – 2,094m) via an old war trail that climbs in narrow switchbacks between rocks. Here, directly at the border to Italy, you find several signposts – you follow the direction "Via ferrata East" and hike to the right. Immediately afterward, you arrive at a plateau and pass several more wooden signposts to reach a gravel path that leads to a former cave. You follow the path slightly downhill until at the first notable left bend you turn right onto the path (here there is a wooden sign "Ferrata Camoscio") – the access path to the Gamssteig (a narrow, well-marked, gravel path over grassy slopes to the foot of the Porze wall). Just before the wall entry to the slope, you cross a marked scree gully to reach the entry to the Porze slope after about 1.5 hours walking time (from the parking lot to the via ferrata entry).

Now begins the approx. 30-minute ascent via the Gamssteig, which runs through the impressive southeast flank of the Porze ("Ferrata Camoscio" via ferrata – difficulty A/B – very good, renovated condition (as of October 2025) – about 180m elevation). Over rugged, partly steep terrain and rock bands as well as through rock faces, you reach a notch (at approx. 2,370m), or the southeast ridge of the Porze. From here, the route first runs a few meters along the ridge (partly secured with ropes), then continues uphill again along a hiking path towards the summit – the last section is again somewhat narrower, exposed, and rockier. You must pay close attention to the markings as the path slightly descends to the left away from the ridge terrain (the summit crosses disappear from view for a few minutes) before ascending again. You pass a small notch with a signpost – here you continue straight ahead along the marked path.

After a total ascent time of about 2 hours 40 minutes (from parking lot to summit), you reach the subpeak and then over short, rocky terrain the main summit of the Porze ("Cima Palombino" – 2,597m).

From the small plateau of the subpeak, the route leads westwards over the Austria Route to the Porze Notch. The first section runs along a mostly narrow path – partly over scree gullies, in sections with risk of falling, as well as along some exposed parts. At a small wooden signpost (to the left of the path), after about 20 minutes walking time, you turn right over a notch – initially over a horizontal, secured passage and an earthy path – in the direction of the via ferrata.

The via ferrata of the Austria Route (difficulty A/B – very good, renovated condition (as of October 2025) – about 120m elevation) leads in about 20 minutes down over the north wall to the Porze Notch (2,363m).

From here, the further descent leads rightwards via a section of the Carnic High Trail along a mostly earthy, scree-covered and partly steeper hiking path (which can also show occasional icy sections in autumn).

After about 30 minutes (from the Porze Notch – at about 1980m), you reach a fork, where you can choose to go over the Porze Hut back to the parking lot or take the direct variant (see track) to Klapfsee – here you turn left and continue downhill. The character of the path now changes quite abruptly – the route becomes gentler and runs over grassy, flatter paths and finally opens into the wide plateau between Klapfsee and the debris slopes of the northern Porze face.

You hike past the right side of the lake and reach after about 1 hour 45 minutes walking time (from the summit via the Austria Route and the Porze Notch) the starting and ending point of the crossing.