02.08.2017
So the first time I managed to complete my hilly route around the Schöckl and over the Trötsch was on 18 February. I took it tentatively and decided to keep going step by step. It was relatively warm, i.e. above zero, going up the Zösenberg and the roads on this (south-facing) side were already completely thawed and dry.
As usual it got a bit cooler on the other side of the Schöckl, but this was no problem thanks to now having my winter clothes sorted out (magic Gore Phantom jacket over 3 other layers; feet in skiing socks and overshoes). By the time I hit the Theisslwirt it was clear that I had enough time and also that my temperature regulation was good enough to go all the way.
You can see in the pictures that there’s still more snow on the big mountains in the distance. At this time of year precipitation is likely to fall as snow up there and rain here. Spring gets going in Graz while the skiing season is still in full swing in the Alps.
What I hadn’t quite realized was that the Theisslwirt itself (or the crossroads just beyond it, where I’d turned off on my previous attempt) isn’t the highest point of the route. After that crossroads, the road dips down a bit but is soon climbing again through the forest. This is a lonely, quiet little corner for a couple of kilometres, past where the northern ski lift (alter Nordlift) used to be. This is totally in the shadow of the Schöckl and the road consisted of a layer of slush on pretty broken asphalt. But the slush was wet, not frozen, and the road wasn’t slippy. There’s another slight rise in the road beyond the Jägerwirt before the final descent into Semriach. Another section of road over there had been left in a state of gravel over the winter, as if the resurfacing had been stopped by the first frost. So a bit of slow descending there, but also not a problem.
Out of Semriach it was easier than I expected to find the way; pretty soon there are signposts for Frohnleiten and there’s only one road going there. A bit out of Semriach there is one slightly brutal little pull but the rest of the way is gentle undulations through Pöllau, past the Häuserl im Wald (another pub) and out to Schönegg. After the group of a half-dozen houses and barns that form downtown Schönegg, the Trötsch climb begins. It winds its way up for a bit more than a kilometre in 6 bends, a little bit undecided about whether they are real hairpins. I don’t remember how the climb went except that I’m sure I took a couple of breathers.
After the top of this climb, the road drops again just a bit and winds around the hill between meadows and woods before doing a final small rise where there is suddenly a view to the other side; part of the world I know well from below but had never seen from up above before. Think stout Cortez on his peak in Darien.
From that point the road is on what’s called the Pfannberg and the descent is pretty constant down to Frohnleiten; it’s a nice one but the weather tends to wash grot out of the fields across the road; in this case parts of it were running with meltwater. Needed the warm gloves for this bit. And that was that!
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