In the shadow of the Schneeberg

And with a zap of magical energy, we return to the misty past, September 2017 to be precise. Although I wasn't living in Austria at that time, on my frequent visits I did manage to get in the odd hike. As I mentioned in my last post, Autumn is by far the best time of year for hiking in Austria so I was especially keen to organise something for that time of year.

The Schneeberg is famous as the easternmost 2000m peak in the alps and the easiest big mountain to reach from Vienna. Although the autumn weather is still not too bad, it starts to get a bit chilly on the top of the big mountains. Fortunately, the Schneeberg is faced on the North side of the valley by a ridge of hills reaching just above 1000m high. For our autumn hike we chose a route from the head of the valley up a very small climb, followed by a smooth long descent along the ridge, offering panoramic views of the Schneeberg and some nice Autumn atmosphere.

The usual autumn weather was in evidence, with wisps of cloud blowing quickly overhead, letting through occasional beams of light, and at other times obscuring the Schneeberg almost completely. Our route took us first through conifer forest, then fields of alpine cows, and then into more open forest carpeted with blueberry bushes, where we stopped for lunch.

After lunch we followed the long lazy descent along the ridge, looking out onto cloud-filled valleys that slowly cleared in the afternoon. After leaving the crest of the ridge we descended more steeply and found ourselves circling around from the top to the bottom of a large waterfall carving a smooth algae-covered notch into the rocks. The final part of the journey led us out onto the flat floor of the valley, and we picked up our pace in an effort to catch the hourly train and not be stranded waiting for the next one. Our swift march was rewarded, getting us to the station in Puchberg just in time to return to Vienna without an extended wait.

Please check out the small gallery of pictures at this link, and stay tuned for pictures from the less distant past.

bis bald,

Der Tom