Auf die Stanglalm von Stanz im Mürztal aus

Wrongly, because especially in autumn this hike leads through beautiful colorful birch and beech forests.

Further up, the path then becomes almost a little alpine and beautiful views open up on the wide alpine meadows to the Graz mountains, the Hochlantsch and the Hochschwab.

Finally, the tour changes a few meters to the Mürztal side and the Hohe Veitsch, Rax and Schneealm dominate the panorama. In addition, with the Wittmaierhütte located near the inconspicuous summit of the Stanglalm, there is a highly recommended base on weekends.

It starts at the Sonnenweg

So, what are we waiting for! Our tour begins at the P of the Stanzer sports field and leads us first into the valley along the well-marked Stanzer Sonnenweg (which is actually worth a visit in itself!) to the small settlement of Unteralm.

There we cross the road (be careful!) and continue along the Sonnenweg, now partly quite steeply uphill to where it crosses the marked hiking trail from the town center to the Stanglalm.

Keeping to the right, we walk uphill on the marked path to the beautifully situated, newly renovated Jagdhaus Ahrer.

We leave this to our left in the truest sense of the word and continue hiking to the Mestl farmstead and the parking lot slightly above it.

It is nicer without a car

Up to here it would also be possible to get there by car, but then we would miss the autumnal splendor of colors of the birch and beech forests we have hiked through so far - so it really is nicer here without a car!

From now on we go uphill through sunken paths, over short forest road passages and over alpine meadows, always well marked.

Thus we reach the last panoramic meadows just below the 1,490m high Stanglalm peak. This is, by the way, hard to find, as it is inconspicuously located on a hill of a forested ridge.

Hiking happiness without a view of the summit

But this circumstance does not matter to us. Either we cross the summit meadow and the last part of the forest (new forest path) on a somewhat poorly recognizable path, keeping to the left uphill, in order to reach the Wittmaier hut.

Or we follow the marked path and turn sharply left at the former mountain inn Stanglalm (new construction planned) to reach the Wittmaierhütte.

The hut itself stands somewhat below and north of the aforementioned wooded ridge on the Mürztal side. In addition to a good snack, it also offers a beautiful Hochschwab - Veitsch - Mürzer Oberland panorama.

The return route initially follows the ascent path. But a little below the Jagdhaus Ahrer we follow the marked path through the ditch and come back directly to our starting point.