Date: 03-01-2014 11:18-12:32 UTC
Parked the car in Sattel at the cable way station. Parking is free, as is the charging station for electric vehicles (of which I immediately took advantage). The cable way features revolving gondolas, and brings you up to Mostelberg within 8 minutes (CHF 10 with Halbtax, CHF 20 without).
I took a somehow longer route in order to improve my fitness and to fight the additional pounds gained during the Christmas and New Year season. The route went via Herrenboden, Hals, Spilmettlen, Bannegg to Hochstuckli (see map below). I only mounted the snowshoes from Spilmettlen, when the snow became too deep to walk comfortably. About 400m after Bannegg, the official path enters the forest. There were however not fresh tracks this way. Instead, an existing track lead straight up to the summit, saving the detour the official way would have been otherwise.
Arriving at the summit, I was irritated by a sign that forbids trespassing and threatens a fine up to 500CHF (see image below). I checked the “forbidden area” at home: It is mainly the south-east facing slope of Hochstuckli, leading from the summit to Nätschboden/Haggenegg. The trail I was using to reach the summit runs exactly at the border of this area, so it should be ok when staying at the edge of the forest.
At the summit there’s a nice bench that can also be used as an antenna support. There’s also a wooden summit cross. The activation went smooth, with a lot of stations coming in on 30m.
The way back I chose a more direct route by following mainly the ski lift going from Herrenboden to Hochstuckli.

QSO: 59 (11 on 40m, 45 on 30m, 1 on 20m, 2 on 12m)
S2S: OK2BWB/P (OK/VY-007), HB9DST/P (HB/SO-016), OK1DVM/P (OK/ST-035), OH2NOS/P (OH/JS-037), OK2PDT/P (OK/VY-059)
Rig: KX3, 12W, Ant: 10m Vert.
Hiking distance: 4.1km
Hiking duration: 1h 52min
Ascent: 458m
Descent: 71m
(Way back: 2.6km, 56min, 415m descent)

GPS Track