Riegerin

The route begins at the hunting lodge. From here, follow the forest road about 3.5 km to a high stand. There is a sign for the steeper shortcut, which goes up until reaching the forest road again. Just after the bend, there is a marking leading up to an exposed, partially secured path to the Riegerin Alm. Sure-footedness and a head for heights are required. Even if you have a via ferrata set, the often unsecured, sandy, and gravelly path is not without danger. After the exit notch, the way to the hunting hut continues without problems. Then, you descend about 60 meters into the upper part of the Bärengraben. From there, it first goes up through the forest to a slope covered with dwarf pines that must be crossed. Next, before the summit, there is steep grassy terrain to the left of the cliffs leading into the Eiskar. At the summit, I enjoyed the overwhelming view of the Hochschwab massif, the Dachstein, etc. From the summit slope, I attempted a less steep descent, which was not successful. During the descent, I briefly considered going from the Bärengraben hollow via the Viererscharte into the Gschödertal along the hunting trail marked on the map. Since it was already 3 p.m. and many uprooted trees lay at the crossing above the Bärengraben, I did not trust myself to quickly find the Viererscharte. So, I descended back into the Brunntal. Naturally, I descended slowly and carefully over the sandy, gravelly, and unsecured sections. In the otherwise steep terrain, I took small steps to protect my knees. This caused the descent to take almost as long as the ascent. I also took the shortcut down again because of the softer forest floor.