Hiking Tour: “Nord-Süd-Weitwanderweg 05 Stage 23: From Gösler Haus (Weinebene) to St. Katharina in der Wiel”

The North-South-Long-Distance trail (Nord-Süd-Weitwanderweg, also known as the “05”) starts in the north of Austria at Nebelstein and ends in the south of Austria at Eibiswald. The trail is ~500km long, ~18 000m in ascent and the same amount in descent. The trail was initiated by Carl Hermann and officially established on the 25th September 1970. The trail is separated into 3 parts: the northern part from Nebelstein to Plankenstein via the Mühl- & Waldviertel and the Wachau, the middle part from Plankenstein to Trofaiach via the Ötscher, Hochschwab and Eisenerzer Reichenstein, and the southern part from Trofaiach to Eibiswald via the Pack and Koralpe. It normally takes 3 weeks to complete the entire trail.

	Nord-Süd-Weitwanderweg 05 – Checkpoints
	Weinebene: Gösler Hütte (Obergösl 58, 9413 St. Gertraud) Koralpen-Haus Brendlhütte (alternate checkpoint to St. Katharina) St. Katharina in der Wiel (alternate checkpoint to Brendlhütte): St. Katharina Stüberl, Wiel-St Oswald 71

Personal impressions:
Transportation:
I’ve planned to accomplish this stage as the seventh of an 8-day multi-day trip. As I stayed the night at the Gösler Haus, I was able to start the tour the next morning just after hiking back to the Weinebene a few meters.

The hike:
This hike was part of an 8-day multi-day trip. As the previous stage was not too demanding and also this stage seemed to be moderate, I started relaxed after my breakfast at 08:45. While paying for the accommodation, I acquired the stamp at the Gösler Haus and then departed from the hut back to the saddle of Weinebene alongside the ski slope. Once back at the saddle, I continued following the official trail southwards first up to Weinofen. At Weinofen, I first missed the trail and went the wrong direction but after a few meters, I recognized my mistake: ignore the signpost and keep right there!
The trail then mainly follows a gravel road through a scenic alpine pasture which is in winter a ski resort. Unfortunately, I had cloudy weather but rarely it opened up and I was able to see the Koralpe radar station thus getting an idea about today’s challenge. The trail leads on an easy and comfortable gravel road around the Moschkogel towards a saddle at the border between Styria and Carinthia. Here the tour turns left and follows a steep trail up to the top if Hühnerstütze. Once there, the major difficulties of the entire tour are accomplished. The trail from Hühnerstütze towards Großer Speikkogel is fairly easy, constantly with the gigantic radar station in sight. The last meters up to the Großer Speikkogel (after passing by the Seespitz) are again a bit steeper and demanding but not comparable to the ascent to Hühnerstütze.
I personally found the summit of Großer Speikkogel very interesting, just because it is so close to the gigantic radar station. However, due to bad weather I was not really able to enjoy as it was very windy and due to fog the sight was limited. Thus I did not spend a lot of time at the summit and decided to continue the tour very quickly down to the Koralpenhaus for having good lunch.
While having lunch, the weather got better and when I left the Koralpenhaus, there was a good mixture of sun and clouds, so not too hot and not too cold. The route mainly leads through the Koralpe alpine pasture, relatively easy and also sometimes scenic. Once the trail enters the forest, the route then gets a bit boring – but always easy .
The biggest disappointment was the closed Brendlhütte. Although supposed to be opened according their website, I found the hut closed with a remark that exactly on that day, the tenants decided to not open. I got a bit worried as this hut is a checkpoint and I was not able to acquire a stamp. Luckily there is an alternate checkpoint in St. Katharina (my planned overnight stay), so I put my hope to get the stamp there. However, I had to skip my planned beer here and had to continue my hike without a break down to St. Katharina in der Wiel.
Again, the trail mainly followed trails through the forest, sometimes also a bit overgrown but easy to hike. The trail felt this time very long but I think mainly because I had to skip my planned break at the Brendlhütte.
When I finally arrived in St. Katharina, I run into the next challenge. Although I booked my overnight stay, I was first unable to find the location. The building at the address looked like a school, so initially I was passing by. It turned out however that the former school is actually the St. Katharina Stüberl and even more, a super nice location to stay. I got spoiled with a delicious dinner, some beers and then was brought to a super nicely decorated room, having an excellent sleep.
Because the owners were gone for leave, the owner’s stepmom took over. Initially she did not know about any stamp but luckily, the next day we figured it out and I also got my wanted stamp .

Summary:
The tour is most of the time easy and scenic. Only the ascent to Hühnerstütze and the last meters up to Großer Speikkogel are steep and require some attention. I had a bit of bad luck with the weather as it was cloudy, windy, and clouds restricting the view. All this made the experience not as nice as it could have been. And obviously, the biggest disappointment hit me when I had to accept that the Brendlhütte is closed, despite the information from the Internet. But all this got compensated by the nice stay at St. Katharina Stüberl, having excellent food and super nice service.