Austrian Alps Hochkonig Circuit

Maria Alm · Austria

Moderate4 daysEurope~£700 est.

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Overview

The Hochkönig circuit is Alpine trekking with the difficulty dialled to pleasure: four days looping Salzburg's great limestone massif from Maria Alm and the Arthurhaus, across karst plateaus and pastures where cattle still summer, with the Dachstein glacier and the Berchtesgaden peaks stacked across the valley. The crux and the highlight is the ascent to the Matrashaus, the hut perched improbably on the 2,941-metre summit itself - the last hours cross the bare stone sea of the Ubergossene Alm plateau, and sunset from the hut door, with pink light on limestone in every direction, is the image you take home. Descent days deliver the Austrian hut trinity: Kaspressknodel, Kaiserschmarrn and a terrace beer. Paths are well marked, but the summit day is long, exposed to weather and holds snowfields into July, so an early start and a stable forecast matter. Book bunks well ahead for July and August, the Matrashaus especially; late June and September are quieter. Four days including hut half-board and travel from Salzburg runs about £400 to £700, some of the best value-for-scenery trekking in the Eastern Alps. Bring cash - the huts do not take cards - and a sheet sleeping-bag liner.