The Dachstein Mountains () are a mountain range in the

Northern Limestone Alps The Northern Limestone Alps (), also called the Northern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps north of the Central Eastern Alps located in Austria and the adjacent Bavarian lands of southeastern Germany. The distinction from the ...

. The term is used by the

Austrian Alpine Club The Austrian Alpine Club () has about 700,000 members in 194 sections and is the largest mountaineering organisation in Austria. It is responsible for the upkeep of over 234 alpine huts in Austria and neighbouring countries. It also maintains ove ...

in its classification of the Eastern Alps as one of the 24 sub-ranges of the Northern Limestone Alps (AVE No. 14). The ''Dachstein'' range includes: * The Dachstein Massif proper with its highest peak, the

Hoher Dachstein Hoher Dachstein () is a strongly karstic mountain in central Austria and the second-highest mountain in the Northern Limestone Alps. It is situated at the border of Upper Austria and Styria, and is the highest point in each of those states. Pa ...

() *

Grimming The Grimming (2,351 m, ) is an isolated peak in the Dachstein Mountains of Austria and one of the few ultra-prominent mountains of the Alps. Geography Location The Grimming rises between the Enns valley and Salzkammergut, east of the Dac ...

() in the east to the upper Styrian

Enns valley The Enns () is a southern tributary of the river Danube in Austria, joining northward at the city of Enns. It forms much of the border between the states of Lower Austria and Upper Austria. The Enns spans , in a flat-J-shape. It flows from its sou ...

* Sarstein () in the north at the other bank of the River

Traun Traun () is an Austrian municipality located on the north bank of the Traun (river), river Traun and borders Linz, the capital of Upper Austria, to the east. The name ''Traun'' is derived from the Celtic word for river (). Traun is the fifth la ...

Extent

The Dachstein Mountains are bordered as follows:Alpenvereinseinteilung der Ostalpen
/ref> * to the northeast by the ''

Totes Gebirge The Totes Gebirge, also known in English as the Dead Mountains, is a mountain range in Austria that forms part of the Northern Limestone Alps, lying between the Salzkammergut and the Ennstaler Alpen. The name ''Totes Gebirge'' is supposedly der ...

'', which is separated by the line from

Sankt Agatha Sankt Agatha is a municipality in the district of Grieskirchen in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Geography Sankt Agatha lies in the Hausruckviertel The Hausruckviertel is one of the four traditional "quarters" () of the Austrian provin ...

on the Hallstättersee – Pötschenhöhe –

Bad Aussee Bad Aussee (; Central Bavarian: ''Bod Ossee'') is a town in the Austrian state of Styria, located at the confluence of the three sources of the Traun River in the Ausseerland region. Bad Aussee serves as the economic and cultural center of the St ...

– Kainischtraun –

Bad Mitterndorf Bad Mitterndorf () is a town in Salzkammergut in the Austrian state of Styria. Situated between Salzburg and Graz, it is a popular winter sports resort and also as a location for walking and cycling in the summer. Bad Mitterndorf is the site of t ...

– Klachau – Grimmingbach to the River Enns * to the south by the '' Rottenmanner und Wölzer Tauern'' and the ''

Niedere Tauern The Lower TauernThe New Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. 1, 2003, p. 86. or Niedere Tauern are a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps, in the Austrian states of Salzburg and Styria. For the etymology of the name, see Tauern. Geography T ...

'', which are separated by the River Enns, roughly from Untergrimming to its confluence with the Weißenbach near

Haus im Ennstal Haus im Ennstal is a village in central Austria, located in the Liezen district of Styria. It is an important town on the Enns river and is at the foot of Hauser Kaibling. Haus is a well-known ski resort and has hosted World Cup A world cu ...

* to the southwest by the Roßbrand in the ''

Salzburg Slate Mountains The Salzburg Slate Alps () are a mountain range of the Eastern Alps, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Situated within the greywacke zone, they could be regarded either as part of the Northern Limestone Alps or of the Central Eastern Alps. Geog ...

'' along the line from Weißenbach – Ramsaubach – Schildlehenbach – Kalte Mandling – Warme Mandling – Marcheggsattel – Fritzbach – Linbach – Neubach to Lungötz in the Lammer valley * to the west the

Lammer The Lammer is a river of Salzburg, Austria, a right tributary of the Salzach. The Lammer rises in the Tennen Mountains and flows from east to west, joining with the Salzach at Golling an der Salzach. Its length is about . The river is known for ...

valley forms the boundary of the mountains with the ''

Tennengebirge The Tennen Mountains () is a small, but rugged, mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps, which lies in front of the Eastern Alps for its entire length. It is a very heavily karstified high plateau, about 60 km² in area, with many cav ...

'' * to the northwest the ''

Salzkammergut Mountains The Salzkammergut Mountains () are a mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps, located in the Austrian states of Salzburg and Upper Austria. They are named after the Salzkammergut historic region, part of the Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammerg ...

'' are separated by a line from Rußbach –

Gschütt Pass Gschütt Pass (elevation ) is a high mountain pass in the Austrian Alps between the of Salzburg and Upper Austria. It connects Rußbach in the state of Salzburg with Gosau in Upper Austria. The pass is traversed by the Federal Highway B166. S ...

– Gosaubach –

Hallstätter See Hallstätter See or Lake Hallstatt is a lake in Salzkammergut, Austria. It is named after Hallstatt, a small market town famous for its salt mining since prehistoric times and for being the starting point of the world's oldest still-working indu ...

Divisions

The two individual peaks of Grimming and Sarstein were counted as part of the Dachstein range because both have been broken off the

Dachstein limestone The Dachstein Formation or Dachstein Limestone (German: ''Dachsteinkalk'') is a geologic formation in the Alps and other Tethyan mountain ranges in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, Slovakia and Slovenia. It preserves fossils dated t ...

block, even though they are quite separate from a hydrographic and

orographic Orography is the study of the topographic relief of mountains, and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain. Orography (also known as ''oreography'', ''orology,'' or ''oreology'') falls within the broader disc ...

perspective. This classification appeared as early as 1924 in the ''Moriggl Division'' of the Alps.

Climate

References

External links

{{Authority control Mountain ranges of the Alps Northern Limestone Alps Mountains of Salzburg (federal state) Mountain ranges of Styria Mountains of Upper Austria