The Schneeberg, with its 2,076-metre (6,811Â ft) high summit Klosterwappen, is the highest mountain of Lower Austria, and the easternmost 2000Â m-high mountain in the Alps. It is a distinctive limestone massif with steep slopes on three sides.
The Schneeberg is one of the Northern Calcareous Alps in the borderland between Lower Austria and Styria, in the eastern part of Austria. It and the Rax (2,007Â m or 6,585Â ft), some 13Â km (8.1Â mi) to the south-west, are collectively considered the Viennese Hausberge (Vienna's "local mountains"). The rich Karst plateaux have provided drinking water for Vienna, via a 120Â km (75Â mi) long pipeline, since 1873, claiming to be the best drinking water in the world.
On clear days, Schneeberg can be readily seen from parts of Vienna, some 65Â km (40Â mi) away (as the crow flies) and even from Bratislava in Slovakia, together with its snow-fields that reach down its northern slopes even in summer and provide a challenge to skiers.
A rack-and-pinion railway, the Schneeberg Railway, now over 100 years old, climbs to a height of 1,800 m (5,900 ft), reducing the walk to the summit to an hour or two. There are also a number of other routes for walkers, including from the spa resort of Puchberg am Schneeberg to the east, or from the south, in Höllental.
The summit plateau has a number of mountain huts which are visited by thousands of walkers, climbers and even mountain-bikers annually.
§External links
- Media related to Schneeberg (Alps) at Wikimedia Commons
- Webcams of Losenheim and Puchberg
- Webcams: Schneeberg - Fischerhütte, Damböckhaus, Losenheim
- Bergsteigen.at with information about climbing routes and huts in the Schneeberg/Rax area
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