Uphill Diaries: Activity Report: Eisenerzer Reichenstein and Gösseck

Trail head: Präbichl Passhöhe

Getting to the trail head: By bus

End point of the run: Kammern im Liesingtal

Coming back to Leoben: By train

Weather condition: Sunny, cool in the morning in Präbichl, but later rather hot.

Food, water supply: I ate 3 Clif bars and 2 energy bars. There was 3 water source on the way (Hirnalm, Schardorf Parking station, Kammern)

Equipment and safety: Extra T-shirt, elastic band, Hansaplast, emergency blanket, Inreach mini, running poles, money, sun cream

I woke up at 5:30, and ate some low-density high-calories food. I rode to train station, from where the bus to Präbichl starts. At 6:35 the bus moves and then at 7:16 I'm at Präbichl Passhöhe. I made my equipment ready and started the run at 7:27.

I was planning to get to the Reichenstein's peak in one hour. I did it some minutes later than that. Especially because I didn't want to go from metal stairs, as there was a long queue there. So I took the normal way, which made the route longer.

I took some pictures on the top, and continued my way towards Hirnalm. Before Reichhals the trail has a lot of big stones, and early in the morning these stones were wet, which made it really hard to run. I was also feeling the effect of having too much elevation gain in a short amount of time, which somehow makes the decision making a bit hard. I could have used my poles in this section but I already packed them in my backpack, thinking that I'll not need them until ascent to the Gösseck. From Krumpenalm to Schardorf I felt the time passed fast, as it was for the first time that I could really "run" non-stop.

There was some short section of asphalt, from Hafning to Schardorf. Before parking station (hiking trail head for Gösseck) I crossed a golf center. Interesting transition from mountains to this kind of luxurious place. At the Schardorf parking station I refilled my water bladder, drank a lot of water, ate a Cliff bar, and started for the second and longest ascent of the day.

Uphill here consists of around 5.5 km, with around 1200 m of elevation gain. My plan was to do it in 90 minutes, as I was already tired. No need to run in a race tempo. In the middle of this section, where there was still around 600 elevation gain left until the peak, I felt really tired, had to stop again to eat and drink. The sun was also making the job harder for me. But as I got higher, the excitement of reaching to the peak was encouraging me to go on.

Finally on the top. It took me around 95 minutes from parking station to here. I did not stop too long there, took some pictures and went on. from Gösseck to Kammern is around 9 km, with some very beautiful views. The way is through a plateau, which is also visible from Leoben. Then a 4 km way begins with around 1000 m of elevation loss. As my feet were already tired, this last downhill section was rather painful. In the rocky sections I was getting help from my poles.

When I reached Kammern, I had already finished my water, so I was very glad to drink from this cold water in the village's center.

I sat down there and recovered from more than 6 hours of almost non-stop motion, changed my t-shirt, and bought the ticket back to Leoben.

At 14:19 the train arrived, with which I arrived in Leoben around 14:43.

Notes regarding my new running poles: It was the first time I used these poles for running. Before this I used them for hiking, and they were doing a good job. But this time, using them for uphill running, and also in technical downhill sections, I got a lot of help from them.