Pennerweg

The Pennerweg (part of route 617) is a spectacular route which trasverses, on scree and rough grasslands, below the vast cliffs of the high Dachstein and above the cliffs which separate them from the forests below. It runs between the Dachstein-Sudwand hut and the Sulzenhals pass, which separates the Bachalm valley from the Hinterwinkl bowl to its west. If it were in France it would be called a Balcon.

This is a superb trail, with a crossing of the high (2,033m) Tor col between the conical Raucheck outcrop and the main Dachstein cliffs. It is quite demanding, with the climb to Tor from the east at least 300 steep, hot metres and then a steep and at times slippery-shaley drop to the Bachalm hut at 1,490m, if you don't want to contour on round to Sulzenhals. It will take around 3 hrs+ between the Sudwand hut and Sulzenhals.

You can make an excellent circuit - and Walkopedia did this - by starting at the Bachalm hut (accessible by shuttle bus from the road), and crossing the bowl to the Sudwand hut before circling back on the Pennerweg. This follows a good forest track in attractive woodland, then climbs some 400m fairly steeply through the dappled shade of pretty mixed forest then in lovely hillside pasture, in a bit over 2 hours. It has to be said that the track has a slight whiff of the suburbs, with strategically placed benches (there are a lot of charming-to-beautiful views) and a lot of walkers on a fine day.

You can make 2 short days of this by staying in either hut - and make the second day a long one by bagging Rotelstein from Sulzenhals.

And you can join this walk and the Linzer Weg for the south west of the Sulzenhals for a marvellous long day below the great line of the high Dachstein cliffs.

This is demanding walking in real mountains with uncertain weather. Come fully prepared.

Walking in Austria - Kev Reynolds for Cicerone: more than 100 walks in the Austrian Alps, including this one. As usual, an inspiring book, packed with valuable information, including good detail on the routes. As Austrian maps are good, it has less on each walk that some other Cicerones, but that is fine. Recommended. Find relevant books on Amazon.

For more information and photos, including detailed practical information and some warnings, see our Dachstein walk page.