Hiking Tour: “Nord-Süd-Weitwanderweg 05 Stage 14: From Tragöß to Sonnschienalm and further to Präbichl”

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
	Sonnschienhütte Leobner Hütte

Personal impressions:
Transportation:
I’ve planned to accomplish this stage as a single day-trip. In order to access the Sonnschienhütte, I planned to start from Tragöß-Oberort Grüner See which has a good bus service and also take the bus back from Präbichl.

To get to the starting point I used the following means of transportation:

1. Railjet 551 from Wien Hauptbahnhof (05:58) Bruck/Mur Bahnhof (07:56)
2. Bus 175 from Bruck/Mur Bahnhof (08:10) Tragöß-Oberort Grüner See (08:50)

On the way back, I used the following means of transportation:

1. Bus 820 from Präbichl Passhöhe (16:35) Leoben Hauptbahnhof (17:18)
2. Railjet 630 from Leoben Hauptbahnhof (17:38) Wien Hauptbahnhof (19:44)

The hike:
I’ve started the hike on a Saturday morning. I had to leave Vienna very early to get the train and the bus, but that allowed me to be in good time (08:55) in Tragöß.
As I visited the Sonnschienhütte during my multi-day tip doing the  Nordalpenweg 01  but left the  05  trail at Stoanbrunn (a few meters after the Sonnschienhütte), I decided to first go back to the Sonnschienhütte and then – after my lunch break – continue the official trail again from there till Präbichl.
Starting early in the morning in Tragöß has its advantages. I found the two amazing lakes (Kreuzteich and Grüner See) covered in mystical haze which amplified the experience. The Grüner See is always worth a visit but unfortunately this year it had a very low level of water due to very few snow in winter.
Following the Russenstraße is not too exciting but an easy and quick ascent. When reaching the mountain pasture of Sonnschienalm, the view is stunning and only a few meters further, the Sonnschienhütte invites for a comfortable lunch break. As I had collected my stamp from this Checkpoint already while staying overnight doing the  01 , I just had good lunch and one or two beers .
I then started my “official” hike on the  05  trail from the Sonnschienhütte first towards the Hörndlalm and then via the Dr. Koteksteig to the Kulmalm.
I found the further trail closed due to risk of rock falls but there were many and good markings indicating the new route to Neuwaldalm and then back heading towards Frauenmauer.
I visited the very impressive Frauenmauer cave (pass-through cave) last year, doing a guided tour, so I skipped that but I would strongly recommend considering doing this tour!
After hiking around the Frauenmauer, the trail becomes scenic. At the Neuwaldeggsattel, it is absolutely critical to turn around and look back to the Frauenmauer, because this is exactly the motif of the picture on the cover page of the official tour book.
The trail then becomes narrow and partly a bit exposed. As it was raining the day before and no sunshine but clouds with light drops of rain, the trail was wet and tricky and required a bit extra caution.
Initially I planed to visit the TAC Spitze, a 1h detour from Hirscheggsattel, but I found myself in really bad weather conditions, a combination of storm and fog. As the last part is a via ferrata and requires good conditions to be done safe, I decided to defer this summit for another time and continued descending to the Leobner Hütte. Having saved time, this allowed me to have two instead of one beers before continuing the tour towards Präbichl.
However, I experienced another setback, as the official trail via the Knappensteig was closed due to unsafe conditions (broken trees). I therefore had to do a slightly longer detour via the Handlgraben and had to speed up to catch the bus.
With running the last meters on the Laufstraße, I managed in time to be at the bus station (also thanks to the fact that the bus had a slight delay of 5 mins) .

Summary:
This stage is a very nice and scenic one. The highlight is for sure that you pass by at the photo motif of the official guide book – the Frauenmauer.
The only downside of the tour was the bad weather condition that prevented me to do my planned climb to the TAC Spitze. At least I have a good excuse to come back .