Rax-Schneeberg Gruppe is south of Gutensteiner Alpen

The borders of Rax-Schneeberg Gruppe are (rivers or towns): Klostertaler Gescheid - Klausgraben - Mamauwiese - Sebastianbach - Puchberg/Schneeberg - Ternitz - Gloggnitz - Schottwien - Semmering - Mürzzuschlag - Kapellen - Naßkamm (between Rax and Schneealpe) - Schwarza - Voisbach - Klostertaler Gscheid

The most important mountains are

Rax and
Schneeberg

Getting There

by car from Vienna on the highway (Südautobahn - A1) to Wiener Neustadt - continue

via Ternitz to Puchberg am Schneeberg or
from Ternitz (continue an Semmeringschnellstraße - S6) to Gloggnitz to Reichenau an der Rax (for the south side of Schneeberg or Rax)

by train: from Vienna (Südbahnhof) via Wiener Neustadt (you have to change the trains) to Puchberg or to Reichenau.
Puchberg and Reichenau bus transfer to the mountains (sometimes!!!)

Climbing, Hiking, Mountain Biking, Ski Touring, Skiing, Whitewater Kayaking

see the link section for more information

Climbing Areas:

The climbs in Höllental (valley between Schneeberg and Rax)
range from easy (e.g. Stadelwandgrat (US 5.3; UIAA 3) to difficult like Hic Rhodus - Hic Salta (US 5.11d; UIAA 8+)

more information on Schneeberg climbs

Blechmauernverschneidung - Höllental

Dächerweg

Stadelwand

Stadelwandgrat

Bürklesteig

Climbing on Rax Southside:
Several nice climbs on Preinerwand like Direkte Preinerwandplatte (US 5.7; UIAA 5-) - or Mit göttlicher Hand (US 5.9; UIAA 6)

Preinerwandplatte 1st pitch

Preinerwandplatte - Mit göttlicher Hand

Preinerwandplatte

Preinerwand

Via Ferrata:

a lot Viae Ferratae in
Höllental: Weichtalklamm (easy), Gaisloch, Alpenvereinssteig

Alpenvereinssteig

and around Preiner Gscheid or Prein (Rax southside): to summit Heukuppe Reißtalersteig (easy) or to summit Preinerwand Königschusswand Steig (very difficult)

Karl Kantner Steig

Königsschusswandsteig

Haidsteig

starting at Hinternaßwald: Bärenloch and Wildfährte

Wildfährte

Hiking:

A lot of marked trails on Schneeberg and Rax

Fleischersteig (Kuhschneeberg)

Rax Plateau

Predigtstuhl and Langer Mann Rinne

Hiking near Siebenbrunnenkessel

Mountain biking:

Some dirt roads are open for mountain biking

Skiing:

Two small ski resorts at
Losenheim (Schneeberg) and
Reichenau

Skitouring:

Schneeberg:

offers very nice Skitouring possibilities (the steep northern descents like Lahning Ries, Rote Schütt Flanke, Privatries etc.) are best in spring. Winter ascents Fadensteig or Fadenweg, descents: Wurzengraben, Hoyosgraben and several more.

Lahning Ries

Wurzengraben

Fadensteig

Rax:

skitours starting at Preiner Gscheid like Karlgraben (winter and spring) or Langermann Rinne (in spring only).
Großer Kesselgraben - starts at the cable car

near Heukuppe

Siebenbrunnenkessel - Karlgraben

Langermannrinne

Whitewater Kayaking:

Whitewater Kayaking is possible on the river Schwarza in Höllental.

Red Tape

water protection area - no littering, no camping etc. (first Vienna water supply)
strictly No Trespassing in Krummbachgraben!! (near Kaiserbrunn)

Huts and Camping

in the Rax and Schneeberg Area are several huts (most of them are closed in winter).

in Höllental (between Schneeberg and Rax):
Weichtalhaus (www.weichtalhaus.at) overnight stay in in small rooms or dormitories and
In Kaiserbrunn camping is tolerated (for one night) - please keep this pleace tidy!! - but generally camping is strictly forbidden (water protection area)

Huts on Schneeberg and Rax

detail information on huts are on the mountain pages

Edelweisshütte

Heinrich Krempel Hütte

Fischerhütte

Damböckhaus

Habsburghaus

Raxgmoahütte

Neue Seehütte

Waxriegelhaus

Non Climbing Activities:

Wasserleitungsmuseum (water supply museum) at Kaiserbrunn (open only form May to end of October)

Rack Railway from Puchberg to the Schneeberg Plateau (open form May to end of October) -

External Links

climbing, skitouring, viae ferratae

www.bergsteigen.at offers a lot of climbing, ice climbing, viae ferratae, skitouring information (only in German)

www.mbike.at Mountain biking in southern Lower Austria

Books + Maps

Kletterführer Höllental by Thomas Behm (6th ed. - 2006) available at Weichtalhaus , Freytag&Berndt (Vienna) etc.

Genuß Kletteratlas Österreich Ost Band 1 Niederösterreich by K. Schall, G. Grabner, T. Behm (covers Lower Austria)

Map: ÖK Wanderkarte Schneeberg-Rax 1:25 000 published by BEV (not available online, but also on Austrian Map Fly DVD)

Images



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