Rauchkofel

In Prettau you walk up to the church and pass it on the left. You pass an old farmhouse on the right and reach a meadow, over which you now ascend parallel to the forest edge. You come across a wide track, follow it briefly to the right and then immediately turn left. You pass a wildlife stream reservoir and go straight into the forest. From now on, you have to be careful not to lose the old cart track (markings on trees) which leads steeply up to the north in the forest on the right. After some time you emerge from the forest and come across the wide alpine road again, which you cross to reach the open terrain of the Wieseralm. Here you can already see the goal, the Rauchkofel towering in front of you.

You first keep going straight north and then turn right. In a kind of high valley, you continue a bit to the northeast until you – clearly indicated by the terrain – ascend again to the north. Now you head directly to the massive southeast slope. At 2600 meters altitude, depending on snow conditions, you have to decide whether to continue directly up the steep flank on skis or turn left to reach the start of the south ridge.

You then follow this on foot (but with skis on your backpack) up to a pronounced flattening of the ridge. Those who climbed up the southeast flank also cross over to this shoulder. From here it is suggested to reach the highest point on skis in a left bend across the west-facing summit slope.

Descent: From the summit you usually first ski down the west slope a bit, then turn left to ski down the large southeast slope. From the tree line you should ski down the wide track that leads almost like a giant hairpin down to Prettau.