There is nothing spectacular about the Stuhleck (1782m), the highest mountain of the Fischbacher Alps in Styria at the easternmost corner of the Alps (the flat plains of Hungary are just a stone’s throw away). Indeed, at the first look the Stuhleck resembles more of a hill than a real mountain, especially if looking up from Mürzzuschlag, the town at the foot of the Stuhleck.
However, it was here where alpine ski mountaineering started in Austria in the late nineteenth century. In those days the usability of skis in alpine terrain was still very much disputed. Though the long Norwegian skis were recognised as a useful tool for travelling through snowy woods and flatlands they were regarded as unsuitable for the higher, steeper terrain of alpine mountains.
Nevertheless, curious people started to experiment with these Norwegian skis. Among them a group from Styria led by Toni Schruf, a hotelier in Mürzzuschlag were especially keen to adapt the idea of skiing for alpine terrain. Together with Max Kleinoscheg from Graz and Walther Wenderich he started to experiment with Norwegian skis at the mellow meadows around Mürzzuschlag. Finally, in 1892 they ascended the very first real mountain with their skis and they chose the Stuhleck for this endeavour. Hence, the Stuhleck got its place in the history of ski alpinism as first alpine mountain conquered by skiers. One year later, they organised a skiing race in Mürzzuschlag, which became the very first skiing race in central Europe. Soon the Stuhleck area got popular among the increasing crowd of skiers in the Vienna region. In those days the direct accessibility of the Stuhleck area by train (from Vienna over the famous Semmering pass) was an important advantage of this area. As early as 1898 the first ski hut (Scheffelhütte) was established using an old barn from a small farming hamlet at the slopes of the Stuhleck.
Today, a museum dedicated to winter sports in Mürzzuschlag honours these early skiing pioneers and informs about the manifold skiing history of this region. This museum features among the many exhibitions a reconstructed full scale model of the Scheffelhut.
Alpine region around the summit of the Stuhleck
The Stuhleck has been a popular ski mountain since these early days. The first ski lift was constructed in 1948 at the meadows of the Schieferwiese near the mountain village of Spital am Semmering. The first chair lift (a single seater) followed in 1960. A total number of 80.000 transportations were counted in the first year. Since then, the Stuhleck ski resort has been expanding continuously and today it is the largest ski resort of the entire region counting about 3,9 million transportations (2008). Four modern, detachable chair lifts and five ski lifts (t-bars) serve a total of 24 kilometres of groomed pistes and a modern man-made-snow system guarantees the skiing between late November and about mid April. With the opening of the Eastern European countries the Stuhleck resort established itself as the most prominent ski resort for the growing number of Hungarian and Slovakian (Bratislava is just around the corner) skiers.
Despite the technical infrastructure of the ski resort the Stuhleck remained popular among ski tourers and mountaineers as well. It is a prefect training ground for easy touring in almost all conditions (the storms can get quite nasty around the exposed summit region) and there are several ski runs in almost all directions.
Tree skiing in the Stuhleck area
The Bettelbauer run, which is probably the route chosen by Toni Schruf and his friends for their first ascent in 1892, is almost 10 kilometres long and goes down to Mürzzuschlag (though it is fairly flat). The most popular ski tour goes down the backside of the Stuhleck to the small village of Rettenegg where the restaurant Ebner serves fresh trout in many variations.
