Gerlitzen

July 31, 2025

1909m

Villach, Austria

Gerlitzen is a rounded and dull-looking hill but boasts over 800 m prominence above the town of Villach in southern Austria. I happened to notice this objective while browsing the World’s P600m map and I was glad that I clicked in to check out some trip reports. This was not on the original itinerary but Adam and I had already missed out Mirnock by driving to a completely wrong trail-head. We did get Goldeck but that one only has 400 m prominence. This was supposed to be a triple-P600m day so I naturally went to the maps to seek for another easy P600m objective in the vicinity, if there’s any. I indeed found one…

Gerlitzen drive-up via paved road from the north…

Gerlitzen is entirely a drive-up “ascent” as a paved road goes all the way to the very summit. There are also multiple cable cars that deliver tourists to the top but they weren’t seem to be running in the evening, and there’s also a fancy hotel not far from the summit. The road costs 9 euros which is “nothing” for bagging an additional P600m objective. For those seeking the complete experience there are multiple trails that ascend the entire profile from Ossiacher See (1400 m gain!) but Adam and I were looking for the quickest way of tagging the summit. The day was getting late and we had to drive a ways into Slovenia in the evening. The road turned out to be narrow and sketchy but I’ve already come to a realization that this is the “norm” in this part of Europe. The speed limits in anywhere but the villages are too “fast”, the roads are too narrow and the drivers are too crazy. There are not enough speed traps to keep these crazy European drivers at bay so make sure you come here with skills and balls. I’ve learnt to drive in White Rock, B.C. where the culture is “chill” and I felt the driving in Europe quite scary. The views from the summit was excellent but there were way too many infrastructures up there to fully enjoy the experience. This is another thing that I’ve realized, that at least in this part of Europe there aren’t much “wilderness” to offer.