Skiing in Eastern Austria. Tree Skiing Or Bushwacking?

Despite all the praise about the skiing in Eastern Austria there are, of course, some downsides associated with the (backcountry) skiing here. First and foremost the trees. Nothing against trees, indeed they usually serve perfectly for preserving powder against the sun and the winds. However, sometimes they just happen to be way too close. And then fabulous treeskiing quickly degenerates into strenuous bushwacking.

Although the treeline in Eastern Austria is extremely low (the average is about 1500m), most mountains are even lower or at least not much higher than 1500m. So, skiing in the Vienna region means you encounter quite a lot of trees. Due to historical reasons (the aristocracy of the Hapsburg empire as large-scale landlords) the forests are not thinned out by many alpine meadows like in parts of Western Austria (especially around Kitzbühel in Tyrol for example). Hence, more often than not one has to cross quite dense woods during a ski tour.

Quite a few routes in the hills near Vienna follow steep ravins or narrow creek beds. So when the snowpack is not very deep the underlying terrain can be quite rough (large rocks or fallen trees etc.). Thus, the amount of combat skiing or bushwacking one encounters may be higher than in the Western parts of Austria. On the plus side you do not have to care about crevasse holes here (and even that is not exactly true since there are some dolines with dangerous hidden holes to be found in the higher limestone massifs).

However, ultimately, even bushwacking is better than no skiing at all.

Skiing in Eastern Austria: into the woods (photo by gerrit)

Skiing in Eastern Austria: Tree Skiing (photo by gerrit)

Skiing in Eastern Austria: Bushwacking (photo by gerrit)

Skiing in Eastern Austria: Trees and more trees

Tagged as: bushwacking, Eastern Austria, skiing near Vienna, tree skiing