Rax

The Rax is a limestone plateau rising to just over two thousand metres at the Heukuppe, separated from the neighbouring Schneeberg by the Höllental gorge, and it has an outsized place in Austrian mountaineering because of proximity: it is the nearest serious mountain terrain to Vienna, and generations of climbers learned on its walls and gullies before going to the western Alps. The Raxseilbahn, built in 1926, was the first cable car in Austria built to carry passengers, and it still lifts you from Hirschwang to around fifteen hundred metres in a few minutes, after which the plateau is gentle walking between huts with the drops around the edges. The Höllental below carries the Vienna spring water pipeline, built in the 1870s, which is the other reason the area was developed.

What's there

• A high limestone plateau - gentle walking on top with sheer edges around it.
• Austria's first passenger cable car - the 1926 Raxseilbahn from Hirschwang.
• Mountain huts - a network across the plateau serving walkers.
• The Höllental below - the gorge carrying Vienna's spring water line.

When to go

June to October for walking; winter for skiing and ski touring. A day.

Things to know

Weather on the plateau changes fast and fog makes navigation genuinely hard - the edges are unfenced. The cable car closes for maintenance and in high wind. Huts have seasonal opening.

Nearby

The Schneeberg and its rack railway are east; Semmering is south.