Keeskopf

The Keeskopf is a 3 081-metre peak in the Schobergruppe of the Hohe Tauern, where the border between East Tyrol and Carinthia runs along its summit ridge. Locals once called it the Steinkarspitze or Seekopf in the Gradental valley, but today it is best known as one of the easier three-thousanders in the range. Seen from the Lienzer Hütte in the Debanttal, its clean lines give little hint of the straightforward climb that awaits.

The normal route leaves a yellow waymark near the Niedere Gradenscharte and follows marked stone cairns across glacier-polished slabs before ascending steeper rock on the eastern ridge. From the Adolf-Noßberger-Hütte the climb takes about an hour; from the Lienzer Hütte via the Noßberger Weg and the 2 796-metre Niedere Gradenscharte it is roughly two and a half hours. Clear conditions reveal the Hochschober, the group’s 3 240-metre namesake, and the Glödis, the ‘Matterhorn of the Schobergruppe’, while the Grossglockner is hidden behind the Rote Knopf.

On the summit visitors find a narrow ridge with views west to the Venediger peaks and east down the Gail valley. The descent retraces the ascent route, picking out the scattered stone man markers that guide the way back to the huts. Alpine clubs publish detailed maps and guides for the Schobergruppe, and the route is described in standard mountaineering literature.