| Sparber from Klefeld Sparber |
| Estimated net time | 3-3½ hours |
| Difficulty | During the last 50 vertical metres there are three sections equipped with ladders and one with wire, making these four sections easy to ascend. The second of the ladders would have been tricky without the aid of man-made equipment. |
| Drinking water | No access to running water. |
| GSM coverage | Coverage at and close to the summit. |
| Parking | Room for many cars at the Klefeld car park. |
| Start height | 685 metres |
| Vertical metres | 840 metres for the roundtrip |
| Trip distance | 8.3 km |
| GPS-file | X |
| Map |
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| Route photo |
Drive road 158 from Salzburg towards Bad Ischl, along south side of Wolfgang See. At the east end of Wolfgang See you get to the village of Strobl. After the exits to Strobl you will find an exit to the right, signed "St. Wolfgang" / "Strobl Ost" / "Postalm"; turn right here (this is 1.0 km after the first exit, to the left, to Strobl). 100 metres later turn right again, following signs for "Postalm", and then turn right after another 600 metres where signed for "Klefeld". After 1.0 km you get to the Klefeld car park. Park here.
Start walking by continuing 120 metres along the road and then fork right where signed for "Sparber". Follow this forest road as it zigzags upwards, until a path goes off to the right, signed "Sparber". Follow this path upwards, first through a forest, then across some steep fields, before the path enters the forest at the foot of the final ascent to Sparber. Note: at the point where you get off the forest road and onto the path it is possible to continue along the road. This road continues to zigzag uphill before it eventually crosses the path coming up from right.
The path now circumvents the mountain in a clockwise direction, bringing you up to the col between the two tops of Sparber. Just before the col there are two short ladders (~1.5 metres each), but there is no need to use either of them.
From the col you descend a little into a gully. There is a wire put in place here, and it can be handy if the ground is wet and slippery. Then you need to ascend a slightly tricky and exposed point, but the ladder put in place makes this not very difficult. Without this ladder ascending Sparber would have been difficult. Next you follow the path a little uphill before you get to the final ladder. This ladder is something like 10 metres long and makes a relatively easy scramble even easier. The last few metres to the summit are trivial.
The descent route is best done via the ascent route.
This was our last day in Strobl, before heading south to Süd-Tirol. We had decided to leave after breakfast, but waking up to our first day with a blue sky meant that my goal of visiting Sparber was within reach. Elisabeth wanted to come along, and after a short drive up to Klefeld we were ready to start our hike at 06:35. After a few minutes of walking we met a couple coming down the forest road. Our first thought was that they must have started really early since they had already been to Sparber. However, they could tell us that the route to Sparber was closed and that they had to turn around. We got a bit upset by the disappointing news, but decided to continue to have a closer look at the "problem" since it was supposed to be only ten minutes away.
When we got to the point where the rout to Sparber forks off onto a path we were met by a sign saying that the route to Sparber was closed due to blasting works related to a new forest road. We weren't sure what to do, except that we didn't want to go back to the car without first having been to the summit. We therefore continues along the forest road, instead of walking up the path. As we got further up we heard a car coming our way. Not wanting to be spotted and hence stopped we decided to start to run to try to keep our distance to the car (the quality of the road was poor so the car had to drive very slowly). Eventually the forest road took us around to where the path comes out of the forest, and from here we could see that we were now above the closed section of the path. We were relieved and understood that our planned hike towards Sparber could continue.
When we got to the first set of ladders we deliberately avoided using these ladders; our feeling was that these ladders didn't make the route any easier at all. We then continued down the gully between the two tops, before we got to the second ladder. There was no way around this ladder so we were happy to climb it. Then onwards to the last, and much longer, ladder. Again, we were not sure about the need for this ladder. Anyway, we were soon at the summit, and enjoying brilliant views. After taking photos and eating a sandwich we headed back down, following a slightly shorter route than during the ascent.
When we got back to Elisabeth's aunt and uncle we were told that her uncle Cuno had been watching us at the summit from his front door! We then had a quick shower before another superb breakfast was enjoyed. Then a five hour drive to Süd-Tirol via the very alpine Staller Sattel.