The trail head at Hopfriesen is reached best by bus n° 973 to Obertal valley. From the trail head you start out on trail n° 776 towards Giglachseen lakes. Right at the beginning a short detour (+ 5 minutes walking time) takes you to the only remaining Nickel smelting furnace of the Eastern Alps, which is a museum nowadays.
On trail n° 776 you then ascend through the forest. You traverse to the right below a big rock step and via a bridge cross over the Giglachbach creek. A couple of minutes more and you reach Lackneralm (no gastronomy). At Lackneralm you cross over Giglachbach creek again and then ascend further via a forestry road or the hiking trail respectively. Shortly before Landauersee lake you reach the Knappenkreuz waypoint (a wayside cross errected in memory of the mining at Giglach).
Along a broad trail you then reach the Giglachalmen, where the creek meanders beautifully among the alpine meadows. At the huts of Giglachalmen you cross over the creek, just until you reach the trail crossing with trail n° 775 (hiking trail towards Duisitzkarsee lake) and cross over again. After a few minutes you then reach the huts at the Northeast shore of the Untere Giglachsee lake.
At the trail crossing there you now continue on trail n° 702 (Schladminger Tauern High Trail) and follow it into Vetternkar cirque and towards Rotmandlspitze. The trail ascends moderately to Vetternkar where you discover the historic remains of miners' houses. To the left of the ruins the trail now starts to ascend steeper and takes you to Rotmandlspitze via a set of switchbacks. From the highest point of the tour at 2,453 m above sea-level you then continue downhill via Rotmandlscharte ridge. Below the summit of Sauberg you then traverse to Kruckeckscharte ridge via a clearance cairn with large stones.
From the ridge a couple of wide switchbacks takes you down into Neualmkar cirque while you enjoy the outstanding view to the surrounding summits. Down in the cirque you reach Keinprechthütte, where you definitely earned a break. From the hut you descend to Obertal valley via trail n° 774. About halfway you pass by Neualm (no gastronomy) before you finally reach Eschachalm at the valley head of Obertal. From there, the bus takes you back to Rohrmoos and Schladming.