Tackling the long drawn-out summit of the Debantgrat, also known as the Viehkofel, is, in mountain ski tour terms, the reserve of the fastidious walker. As a north-eastern neighbour of the Hochschober, the southern summit is relatively easy to tackle via boulder terrain. It just has a bit of a kick at the start of the mountain. This is anything but short. The southern summit of the Debantgrat has for a long time had a cross, set up by Landjugend Gaimberg and this looks far into Debanttal. Starting point is Debanttal, a few kilometres to the north of Lienz. The ascent to Nussdorf, continuing via a little narrow road into Debanttal proceeds either via Lienz via the Liebherr crossing, or directly from the town of Debant. Depending on the snow conditions one lane of the goods route from the end of the asphalt road (Gasthaus Säge, 1100 m) can be used (chains) until just before Nussdorfer Bridge (1460 m). However should this already be closed the tour will be lengthened accordingly. The wide trail takes us now in an even incline past the summer car park area in Seichenbrunn, up to Lienzer Hütte (1977 m, 1 ½ hours from the bridge). The kettle becomes wider and we cross through the flat base area behind the accommodation. At the end of the head of the valley, just above 2000 m, the ski track bears west and starts to climb. Via truncated terrain we get to another, flat base area at around 2150m. Always bearing west we come to a north-facing, unbroken steep slope (>30°), which descends from the Mirnitzschneid. This is often threatened by avalanche and is tackled at its flattest section. Occasionally the right hand side can also be avoided by a few inclined „overhanging rocks“. There follows a short base area (around 2450m), before the ski track bears north again to the Schobertörl. In the hidden high valley (‘Gartl’) we enter a flat area after a short slope, at around 2700m. Whereas the ascent to the Hochschober proceeds left across steep slopes, we head for the distinctive south-facing flanks of the Debantgrat, which comes into view with its impressive summit cross. The approach to the summit is mostly tackled on the flattest area where we can forge our way without much difficulty after a little ridge saddle up to the highest point. When there is not much snow the ascent can also be made direct from Schobertörl (2905 m) via the boulder-strewn terrain (steel cable) of the summer terrain. Descent along the ascent trail.
Additional ski tour tips can be obtained in the ski tour guides by Thomas Mariacher. These are available here: http://www.grafikzloebl.at/verlag/buecher/
