Each year the cog railway from the little town of Puchberg to the alpine plateau of the Schneeberg massif is opened around late April (it is out of operation during the winter due to huge snow drifts and avalanche danger).

Puchberg railway station with the Schneeberg

Then the many couloirs and chutes of the Schneeberg massif are easily accessible even for the lazy freerider who might be discouraged by the two to three hours approach during the winter. The train ride with the cog railway lasts about 50 minutes and then most of the entries of the various skiing runs are within a short hike up to about 40 to 50 minutes.

Earn your turns at the Schneeberg

Thanks to this short approach two (or even three) runs are easily possible. Usually we choose a warm-up run at the southern side in the forenoon. Though the conditions at the southern side (this time we chose the Saugraben for our first descent) were rather mixed. The below average snow cover of the winter combined with a general warm spring resulted in almost “early summer” conditions.

Late season corn in the Saugraben, Schneeberg

Then, at the afternoon the snow at the northern couloirs should be “corny” enough. My personal favourite is the Narrndattl Couloir which is an alternative entry into the massif snow bowl of the so called “Breite Ries”. It is a neat little couloir, steep and narrow but not intimidating and it holds the snow really long due to its northern exposition. After the couloir itself the wide slopes open up and provide almost perfect terrain for wide turns.

Entrance of the Narrndattl Couloir at the Schneeberg

The Narrndattl couloir is one of the lesser known descents of the Schneeberg. The steepest part of the couloir is about 43 degrees. It was first skied by Wolfgang Ladenbauer in 1973. Wolfgang Ladenbacher is the author of the standard ski guide book of the Schneeberg massif (highly recommended but in German only).

It has been a long waiting. December and January were horrible months for powder-seeking skiers in Eastern Austria (and in almost the whole Northern Alps). However, a significant dump during the last two days satisfied all our desperate needs for powder. About 50-60cm of fresh new snow turned the hills of Eastern Austria into a winter wonderland. It was a pleasure riding the long awaited snow and enoying being back on the planks.

Fresh powder and winter sun - ingredients for a great outing

Our chosen location, the Niederalpl proved to be a good spot for harvesting the fresh powder. No crowds whatsoever and a fine combination of open runs, treeskiing and some bushwacking. Of course, due to the high degree of avalanche danger we had to stick to mellow terrain or fairly thick woods.

Powder in the woods around Niederalpl

Imagine a small village deep in an alpine valley. A single cable car going up high into the mountains. No groomed runs leading downhill. Only off-piste runs, perfect for the days after a big dump. And, of course, a huge alpine backcountry with gnarly couloirs and all this stuff.

“Bingo!”, you’ll say, “that’s La Grave in France, for sure.”
“Hold on”, I would say, “that’s Hirschwang at the Rax, just some 80 kilometres south of Vienna”.
And I would be laughing at you for your ignorance and I would tell you my fairy tale of an epic powder day.

Rax massif, seen from the valley around Reichenau, the cable car area is seen in the right part of the picture, photo credits see below

The Rax is a huge mountain massif forming a plateau just above 1500m and peaking in the Heukuppe (2006m) in the westernmost part of the massif. Steep walls surround the whole massif offering some of the best possibilities for alpine climbing in the Vienna region. Hirschwang is located at the easternmost part of the mountain.

Rax cable car near the valley floor, Hirschwang, Lower Austria

The Rax cable car was built as early as 1921 and thus being Austria’s oldest cable car. The total vertical of the cable car is about 1020m! The terrain around the cable car is rather steep with some chutes and couloirs leading down into the woods. At the mellow plateau itself there is a single T-bar offering some beginner slopes and some terrain for park-oriented skiers.

There are various downhill runs which have been skiing for decades now (Schöllergraben, Lahngraben, Seilbahngraben, Maschingraben). All these runs offer fantastic off-piste skiing if the snow is fresh and deep enough. Add some touring possibilities from the top of the railway station (for example Grosser Kesselgraben for the beginners or Grosser Wolfsgraben for advanced skiers) and you get a quite versatile off-piste ski “resort”. Of course, there are dozens of other ascents and descents around this huge mountain but most of them do have different starting points.

Skiing deep powder in the Maschingraben, Rax

Skiing deep powder in the Seilbahngraben, Rax

However, there is one significant caveat. Due to the minimal elevation of the valley floor (just about 520m around the valley station of the cable car in Hirschwang) the snow is only plenty and good enough at certain times during the winter. So the 1000m vertical runs in the vicinity of the cable car are to be enjoyed only a few times during a winter. So you have to be lucky enough to be there in the right time …

Photo credits Rax, view from the valley floor

Due to the heavy snow falls this week we were happy to enjoy an early opening of the ski touring season around Vienna. I was studying various weather reports and data, webcams, internet forums etc. for the whole week to determine the location for our opening ski tour. Finally our decision was on the Niederalpl pass (1220m) in Styria (about two hours car ride from Vienna). There is a small ski resort on the pass and we thought that using the grassy pistes would be the best option for the limited amount of snow (30-40 cm).

October snow at the Niederalpl, Styria

The skinning was straightforward, just following the piste below the pylons of the chair lift. Since the snow fall was associated with heavy winds the region above the tree line was not really skiable. Most of the snow was blown away into the woods. Hence, after one disappointing excursion near the summit of the Wetterin (1530 m) we stuck to the piste.

Gerhard skinning at the Niederalpl, Styria

Given the time of the year conditions were quite good here and we got some nice turns in fresh, but somewhat wet snow. It was a real pleasure to be on skis again after four long months without the planks.

Fun with early ski turns in October at the Niederalpl, Styria

Plus, seeing first hand the arrival of winter was awesome. This early winter experience will help us for sure to get over the period of warm autumn weather which is forecast for the next week.

Winter Idyll in October at the Niederalpl, Styria

The Schneeberg (literally translated: Snow Mountain) is remarkable in many respects.

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And this list could even go on. Indeed, the Schneeberg is a mighty mountain massif. It is also easily reachable from Vienna both with car as well as with public transport. The entry point to the Schneeberg is Puchberg, a nice traditional spa town, worth a visit by its own right.

There are many ways to climb the Schneeberg. The easiest one is going by the old cog railway leaving directly from the Puchberg train station to the Hochschneeberg plateau, 1798m. From there it is only a skin (or hike) of about 40 minutes to the two summits (Klosterwappen and Kaiserstein). However, this option is only available in spring (usually late April) since the train is not operated during the winter month due to avalanche danger.

During winter the standard option to climb the Schneeberg starts in Losenheim (780m), a small village and ski resort with only one chairlift and an accompanying drag lift. If you are lazy enough, using the chair lift which goes to a saddle North-West of the Schneeberg massif spares about 40-60 minutes of skinning or about 400m vertical ascent. Directly at the chair lift’s top station starts the ascent called “Fadenweg” which is relatively safe during the whole winter.

Last spring there were ideal corn snow conditions at the Schneeberg. When the cog railway opened its operation at the end of April we decided to make a round trip involving some warm up skiing in the Bockgrube and the Hackermulde. The Bockgrube is a huge bowl, south of the main summit of the Schneeberg and the Hackermulde is a nice bowl just between the two summits.

Then it was time for the final downhill for which we chose the so called Narrndattl couloir. A narrow and quite steep couloir providing access to the Breite Ries, the huge bowl at the East side of the Schneeberg massif. The descent was in perfect conditions and it was possible to ski down to about 1200m. The change of scenery from the snowy mountain to the green meadows around Schneebergdörfl back in the valley near Puchberg was really amazing.

Alpenostrand is the German word for the eastern fringe of the Alps ranging from the Vienna region in the North-East to Graz and Maribor (Slovenia) in the South.

Some time ago Wade, an American student on his nouveau grand tour in Europe, sent me an e-mail asking for some beta on skiing possibilities in Austria. He was honest, explaining that he initially wanted to go to Switzerland for his university studies because he expected to find better skiing there. However, he missed a deadline and ended up in Vienna.

Of course I was happy to assure him that going to Vienna would not lead to a dead end skiing wise. When the storms got rolling in again in late March Wade, my buddy Gernot, Wade and myself left Vienna early in the morning for a skiing outing near the Semmering. We intended to use the new powder snow for some ski touring and lift-accessed freeride.

Wade was with his Bros from PMGear, a widely acclaimed independent ski manufacturer based in Reno. We were pretty sure that it was a world premiere for Bros being skied at the Alpenostrand near Vienna. Our day started with a skin up over the backside of the Stuhleck (1782m). We got in some really nice turns in fresh March powder before noon. The runs around the Stuhleck were fun. Some steep and open slopes, some treeskiing and some hidden gullies guaranteed a great variety of skiing.

Skiing powder near Vienna

However, the initially cold but sunny weather started to turn sour – rising temperatures and beginning rain quickly turned the snow into ‘mashed potatoes’. It was time for a change.

Skiing in a gully, Stuhleck

We left Stuhleck and headed towards the Niederalpl, a rather small and somewhat overlooked ski resort with nice tree lines. The snow was rotten here as well, but we managed to enjoy the resulting slush fest anyway. The rising temperatures were a sign that the corn time was near and soon we would ski the many couloirs in the limestone massifs of Eastern Austria.

Recently, Japan has been receiving growing attention from powder hounds all over the world. Indeed, Japan offers incredible possibilities for tree-skiing in bottomless powder. Due to its specific climate (the pacific ocean is just around every corner!) the snow is accumulating continuously rebuilding virgin slopes virtually every night. At least so goes the saying. A growing flood of incredible amazing videos is proofing this hype.

I have never been in Japan. However, this winter I’ve had my personal Japan-like experience, just some 200km west of Vienna. How comes that? In February the European gods of snow started to deliver and they delivered big time. Storms rolled in from the Northwest virtually nuking non-stop. What a crazy dump. And we happened to be just in the centre. Thus, the combination of the picturesque little Salzkammergut village of Altaussee with tons of powdery snow in the trees around the Tauplitzalm gave me my own personal Japan-experience.

Many thanks to Sabine, Kathi and Gerrit for their kind hospitality in their cosy little refuge in Altaussee, which was a perfect base-camp for hunting the fresh powder.

Kathi in deep powder (Tauplitz)

Deep powder (Tauplitz)

Sabine plowing through Tauplitz powder

Gerrit enjoying Tauplitz powder

Photo credits: Gerrit

The Göller (1766m) is one of those mountains in the Vienna region which offer ski runs just in every direction. The summit of the Göller is high above the local tree line and surrounded by wide, open bowls with steep faces. Hence, the ridges offer relatively safe ascents during the whole winter while the descents through the bowls require good avalanche conditions.

The two usual approaches for the summit are either from the North (ascent from Gscheid over the Gsenger and the North ridge) and from the South starting at the Lahnsattel (1050m) and ascending over the south side of the Terzer Göller. Both ascents are relatively straightforward and usually tracked.

The view from the summit is fabulous. With clear air the hilly landscape north of the Alps and the flat Danube Valley lies beyond you. To the East the mighty Schneeberg massif offers a good view to its standard runs (Schneegraben, Wurzengraben, Salvisgraben, Hoyosgraben). Looking to the South and West the whole range of the Styrian Alps from the Veitsch and Hochschwab area to the famous Gesäuse (Ennstal valley) gives insight to the many fine backcountry skiing opportunities in this corner of the Alps.

The shaded bowls and deep ravines of the Göller guarantee good skiing conditions until late spring (usually late April or even early May). Then the corn snow allows for some short but interesting steep skiing through the various couloirs of the Hueherkralle.

Goeller auf einer größeren Karte anzeigen

Goeller, view to the Huehnerkralle

Goeller, Eisgrube (southern side of the Goeller)

The Ötscher (1893m) dominates the northern part of the “Alpenostrand” towering almost 1500m above the valley floor near the picturesque town of Scheibbs (341m). With clear air the Ötscher is visible as far as from the Weinviertel, the rural region where I was born. Thus, this mountain has a long lasting attractiveness for me. It happens that the Ötscher is an attractive mountain for skiing with versatile runs offering various 1000m vertical descents of different difficulty levels.

Ötscher auf einer größeren Karte anzeigen

The chairlift „Grosser Ötscher“ of the Lackenhof ski resorts allows for an easy and short ascent of the Ötscher. It takes only about one hour of easy skinning to arrive at the summit. The easiest run is the Fürstenplan which goes through the relatively wide and open bowl in the north-west face of the Ötscher.

Grosser Oetscher, Fuerstenplan

If conditions allow the steep and alpine south face of the Ötscher offers the most interesting runs. This spring we had to wait for weeks until good (i.e. safe enough) corn conditions were prevalent. The trick is to arrive at the summit early enough before the sun turned the firm corn into avalanche-prone slush.

Grosser Oetscher, Summit

At May, 3rd we were successful in our attempt to search for the right conditions in the south face. After a cold and clear night the corn was good enough to ski the wide, open slopes of the south face via the Wurzleiten run. It was a perfect spring corn fest. After an initial tricky navigation through the first slope which was covered with crevasse-like snow holes the run allowed for easy-going skiing over marvelous terrain.

Grosser Oetscher, South Face, Wurzleiten

Wade skiing the Wurzleiten

The total vertical of about 900m compensated for the tiring traverse back to the Riffelsattel (1283m) and the ascent to the summit of the Kleiner Ötscher (1554m).

Helmut and Wade arriving at the Kleiner Ötscher Summit

Thanks to this year’s snow-rich winter we were able to enjoy some 700m vertical skiing down to Lackenhof through the North-East bowl of the Kleiner Ötscher.

Finally it’s summer. Time to search for the snow …

Searching for summer corn

The Rax massif, approximately 80 km south of Vienna, offers some lines for the late season. The so called Lange Mann Rinne is just a 2h hiking away from the parking slot at the Preiner Gscheid at the border between Lower Austria and Styria.

This June it offered some 300-400 m of vertical through a moderately steep gully. A great pleasure … for us skiers as well as for the many hikers who were quite amused to see us ski that late in the season.

Summer ski, Langer Mann, Rax

Telemarking in Langer Mann, Rax