The Großer Sonnblick or Malteiner Sonnblick, a mountain with a height of ,
at www.thehighrisepages.de. Accessed on 10 Jul 2011. is a peak in the

Ankogel Group The Ankogel Group () is a sub-group of the Central Eastern Alps. Together with the Goldberg Group, the Glockner Group, the Schober Group, the Kreuzeck Group, the Granatspitze Group, the Venediger Group, the Villgraten Mountains and the Rieserfern ...

of the

Hohe Tauern The High Tauern ( pl.; , ) are a mountain range on the main chain of the Central Eastern Alps, comprising the highest peaks east of the Brenner Pass. The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian states of Salzburg, Carinthia and East Tyr ...

range in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. It is the easternmost peak of the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

with a prominence over 100 metres and with a height exceeding .

Geography

The summit is located about in a distance of northwest of Gmünd and ca. northeast of the

Hochalmspitze The Hochalmspitze (3,360 metres above the Adriatic (11,020 ft)) is located east of Mallnitz in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is sometimes called "Tauern Queen" () as a counterpart to the "Tauern King", the Grossglockner. Geography T ...

. The normal ascent route that is quite flat in the upper stages from the Gmünder Hut, is not difficult when conditions are dry and free of snow, but it is quite tiring to climb due to the large difference in height that has to be over come (some 1,900 metres). As there are no signposts or markings, good orientation is needed for this tour. In good weather there is an outstanding view from the top to the

Großer Hafner Großer Hafner is a high partly- glaciated mountain of the Ankogel Group in the High Tauern range, located at the border between the Austrian states of Carinthia and Salzburg. It is the easternmost three-thousander peak (with at least prominen ...

() and the

(). The Großer Sonnblick has a prominence of and an isolation of to the

Ascent

The

normal route A normal route or normal way (; ) is the most frequently used climbing route for ascending and descending a given mountain peak; it is usually the easiest and often the most straightforward route. Other generic names include the ''Tourism, tourist ...

takes about 5–6 hours from the Gmünder Hut () initially along a

forest track left, alt=Pathway through forest., Concrete pathway through deep forest in India. Forest tracks or forest roads are roads or tracks intended to carry motorised vehicles or horse-drawn wagons being used mainly or exclusively for forestry purposes, ...

to the unmanaged Ochsen Hut (), then over the footbridge of a stream (from here level) northwards across grassy slopes, steep in places to an '' alm'' bottom near the lake of ''Kleiner Melniksee''. Next the route heads northwest through a

blockfield A blockfieldWhittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984, pp. 66 and 190. . (also spelt block fieldLeser, Hartmut, ed. (2005). ''Wörterbuch Allgemeine Geographie'', 13th ed., dtv, Munich, pp. 107 and 221 ...

up to a

cirque A (; from the Latin word ) is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by Glacier#Erosion, glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from , meaning a pot or cauldron) and ; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform a ...

south of the Middle Sonnblick'', over a steep, scree slope into a

col A col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks; a mountain pass or saddle. COL, CoL or col may also refer to: Computers * Caldera OpenLinux, a defunct Linux distribution * , an HTML element specifying a column * A collision sig ...

and finally in a southwesterly direction along the rocky summit ridge (

sure-footedness Sure-footedness is the ability, especially when hiking or mountain climbing, to navigate difficult or rough terrain safely. Such situations place demands on a person's coordination and reserves of strength as well as requiring sufficient appreciati ...

needed) to the highest point. Grosser und Mittlerer Sonnblick

Neighbouring peak

East of the Großer Sonnblick lies the sub-peak of Mittlerer Sonnblick (3,000 m). The two summits are linked by a ridge that can be negotiated without the need for climbing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonnblick, Grosser Mountains of Carinthia Mountains of the Alps Ankogel Group