It is time to say good bye to the 2009/10 winter season. However there are still some snowfields to find which seem to be worthwile to ski. Though it is more of a hiking with some (relatively short) skiing in between than a real ski tour. Basically there are two different locations for summer skiing in the direct vicinity of Vienna.
The first location is to be found at the Schneeberg and is easily accessed via the cog railway from Puchberg and a short (30 to 50 minutes) hike to the summit of the Schneeberg. It is called the Hacker bowl and is just beneath the two different summits of the Schneeberg (Klosterwappen, 2076m and Kaiserstein, 2061m). It is a wide, open bowl which is filled with snow usually until June. The skiable vertical is about 150 m. There is even a summer ski race each year (usually at the beginning of May).
The Fischer hut near the summit of the Schneeberg
The second location is the Lange-Mann-Couloir at the Rax. From Preiner Gscheid (1070m, parking lot) it is a hike of about 1.5 – 2h to the area around the Predigtstuhl summit (1903m) at the Rax massif. There, a narrow chute, called “Lange Mann Rinne”, is filled with enormous amounts of snow during the winter. Usually it is skiable (about 300-400 m vertical) until May (sometimes even until beginning of June).
Skiing the Lange Mann (Rax), May 2010
