Snowy September: Austria Part 2

At 1,753m above Rauris

16 days before the above photo was taken, we were enjoying a family holiday in Corfu in 30º+ heat. Marginally over two weeks later, and at 1,753 metres in Austria, it's snowing and we're standing in four to five inches of the white stuff. It was slightly surreal, first to wake up to see snow on the mountain tops in Rauris, and then to riding up in the cable car with snow falling all around and the sound of alpine cow bels clanging - it felt like Christmas in September. That much snow at this time of year was unusual, but you can see how much there was from the photos.

The alm at the top of the Hochalmbahn in Rauris.
Sadly closed - but the middle station was open!

From here we walked down to just over 1,400m to the mid station and the adjacent alm where we imbibed with warm drinks and goulash soup before catching the cable car back down to Rauris. The snow disappeared at around 1,400m, but the views, despite the cloud conditions were fabulous.

Walking down from 1,700m-1,400m

Rauris is a small village in the Eastern Alps about an hour south of Salzburg. It's a skiing village, although not a big resort, but pretty in a typical Austrian way, with wooden houses and grassy alpine fields. The photo below shows the view from our apartment balcony, looking up the valley towards the Kolm-Saigurn national park, with the pyramidal (at least from this angle) Ritterkopf mountain - the one with the lenticular loud above it, towering at just over 3,000m.

The view from our apartment 

The next day saw us driving along the valley into the Kolm-Saigurn National Park for a walk up rather than down. We climbed up to around 1,700m from around 1,400m, quite steeply along a well marked trail before coming to a wide flat valley. From here the path eased gently downwards towards an alm, the Ammererhof where of course sustenance was enjoyed.  The Ammererhof, at 1,600m itself, faces the Hoher Sonnblick, a 3,006m peak with a weather station atop, although it was carpeted in cloud this day.

On the way to Kolm-Saigurn

At our highest point of the day

After being sated with goulash soup, cheese and meats, cake and of course something to drink, we wound our way gently down the stony road back to our cars. The views again, fantastic as we walked alongside the river gushing with snow melt, surrounded by tall snow capped mountains.

The gentler walk back down

Next instalment: Rauris and Zell am See

All photos from the trip are available on my Flickr page - link below

Twitter: @Statto1927 Flickr: 

https://www.flickr.com/people/simon_hiscocks/ 

Instagram: simon_hiscocks