North ridge of Obernberg valley

Technical difficulty: 2/10
Fitness: 5/10
Objective danger: 3/10 (very short exposed sections of narrow trail)
Landscape: 6/10
Busy: 2/10

A technically easy loop over the north ridge of Obernberg valley, crossing over Nösslachjoch, Egger Berg, Leitnerberg, Trunajoch and Lichtsee.

Starting point: Nösslach Highway rest area
Ending point: Nösslach Highway rest area
Length: 29km
Vertical: 1700m
Speed: The ridge on technical trails, the way back mostly on fast forest roads

Route:

We park at the highway rest area of Nößlach and start running up a road north towards Hotel Humlerhof. Just before the hotel, we turn of to a forest road (and eventually a trail) that leads in the direction of Bergeralm. Just before Bergeralm we connect back to the forest road, follow it uphill for a few turns and eventually connect to a steep trail that leads us south-west along the ski slope and past the mountain station of the ski lift to the summit of Nößlachjoch (2221m).

From here we start following the ridge in front of us, always keeping roughly south-east. First we cross the summit of Eggerberg (2280m), them through the saddle called Eggerjoch and onto the next summit of Leirtnerberg (2309m). We continue along the ridge to the next summit of Trunajoch (2205m) and a small lake Lichtsee.

After the lake, the trail gets a lot smaller and a lot more technical. We traverse on the south-east flank of Rötenspitze, Am hohen Kreuz and Muttenkopf before finally turning around and starting to head back in north-west/ west direction. After short descent through the meadows we connect to a forest road leading down to the Kastnerbergalm. There are many cows along these parts.

From here we continue along the forest road for many kilometers in the direction of Nößslachhütte. After the hut, only a short trail section remains before connecting back to the streets of Nößlach and following it for a few kilometers back to the parking lot.

Pro tip: there are many options of how to make this round longer or shorter. With generally very few technical difficulties lurking around, feel free to grab a map and improvise :).

Photos by @the.running.nomad, @bennibru and @innsbruckalps