Page Type Page Type: Mountain/Rock
Location Lat/Lon: 47.64587°N / 15.72588°E
Activities Activities: Hiking
Seasons Season: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter
Additional Information Elevation: 5135 ft / 1565 m
Sign the Climber's Log
Topographic isolation: 4.8 km
Nearest higher peak: Wetterkogel (1829 m)
Prominence: 495 m

Overview

The most idyllic part of Reisstalersteig
The view of Drahte Kogel from Rax
Spruce forest with blueberry
Spruce forest with blueberry
There is a small mountain range between Raxalpe and Stuhleck. This mountain range is 20 km long in western-eastern direction, and it is 6 km wide in north-south direction. The highest summit of this range is Drahte Kogel (1565 m). The peak is called Tratenkogel or Trattekogel, too. It’s not only the highest peak of the small mountain range but it is also the most prominent peak within the range. It’s prominence is 495 meter. This prominence is determined by the key col: Preiner Gscheid (1070 m) that separates our small mountain range from the big mass of Rax. The mountain range – and so also Drahte Kogel – belongs to the Rax-Schneeberg Group of the Eastern Alps.

This area – near to Semmering Pass – is on the border line between the limestone chain of Alps on the north side and the crystalline chain on the south side. The northern neighbour of our small mountain range is Rax, built of limestone, while the southern neighbour is the Fischbach Alps that is mostly built of schist. From this aspect there is some inconsistecy between the two big mountain ranges, within our small mountain group: here Drahte Kogel on the north is built of schist, while its southern neighbour – Kampalpe is the limestone peak. This statement is valid only on the peaks of the mountains. The basement of Drahte Kogel is limestone. And thanks to the limestone material we can find there some karst formations, including the cave “Stalaktitenhöhle”.

When I was looking to some photos about Drahte Kogel on internet, I found only some not very nice photos, so I didn’t expect much from the mountain before visiting it. The reality is much better. The mountain is nice and it provides what a 1500 meter high mountain can provide in Austria. All right, there are not many attractions apart from the cave “Stalaktitenhöhle”, but the mountain is optimal for a half day or for a full day hiking.

Kingcup
Caltha palustris

Early marsh-orchid
Dactylorhiza incarnata

Soldanella major
Soldanella major

View of Raxental and Schneealpe
The view of Raxental and Schneealpe
The summit of Drahte Kogel
The summit
The border between Styria and Lower Austria just crosses the summit. The peak itself is a nice spot, but as it is surrounded with spruce trees, there is no outlook opportunity from here. View of the neighbouring mountains can be enjoyed from the western hillside of the peak – only a few hundred meter far from the peak. This place doesn’t provide a 360 degree panoramic view, but it will have only an approximately 160 degree view, with the followings neighbouring summits:

      - S: Fischbach Alps with Amundsenhöhe (1666 m) and with Pretul (1656 m)
      - NW: Schneealpe (1903 m)
      - N: Rax (2007 m)

Routes

How much to walk to the Pyrenees yet? 3000 km?
How much to walk to the Pyrenees yet? 3000 km?
Paulinen Quelle
Paulinen Quelle - the only water source on the route from north
Kampalpe can be accessed from 3 directions:

      - from north, from Preiner Gscheid
      - from west, from Scheiben Hütte
      - from south east, from Kampalpe.

The quickest access is from Preiner Gscheid. This route has some steep sections, but in general it’s easy. The routes from Scheiben Hütte and from Kampalpe have practically no steep sections. It sounds easy, but somehow you can get to Scheiben Hütte or to Kampalpe. The challenge is there. The minimum elevation gain is 600 meter that you must perform to get to Drahte Kogel. This approach is from north. Not from Preiner Gscheid, but from a trailhead of an unmarked route near Schlöggl Alm.

The marked trail crossing the peak of Drahte Kogelis part of a long distance trail: WWW 01A. It is the Austrian Long Distance Trail 01 – also called Nordalpenweg: a 1200 km long trekking trail connecting the eastern border of Austria (Rust) with its western border (Bregenz). Our trail is actually WWW 01A and not WWW01. WWW 01A is a variant of the original trail. WWW 01 misses Kampalpe – it crosses Raxalpe. This trail forms part of the E4 European long distance path. This path is 10000 km long.

Tourist Huts and Camping

There are two tourist huts near Drahte Kogel:
      - Pinkenkogel Schutzhaus (1280 m a.s.l.)
      - Scheibenhütte (1473 m a.s.l.)

The nearest camping site is Europa Camping in Langenwang (740 m a.s.l.)

Map

For an excellent online map of the area please click here!



Parents 

Parents

Parents refers to a larger category under which an object falls. For example, theAconcagua mountain page has the 'Aconcagua Group' and the 'Seven Summits' asparents and is a parent itself to many routes, photos, and Trip Reports.

Rax-Schneeberg GruppeMountains & Rocks