The Rax-Schneeberg Group () is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

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 ...

on the

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

n border in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Location

According to the official classification of the Eastern Alps by the Alpine Club ('' Alpenvereinseinteilung der Ostalpen''), the Rax-Schneeberg Group is bounded by the following divisions to neighbouring groups of mountains: * to the north by the Klostertaler Gscheid – Klausgraben – Mamauwiese – Sebastiansbach – Puchberg * to the northeast by the valley of the River Sierning as far as Ternitz * to the south by the line: Ternitz – Schwarza near

Gloggnitz Gloggnitz is a mountain town in the Neunkirchen (Austrian district), Neunkirchen district of Lower Austria, Austria. Gloggnitz is situated in the south-western part of the Viennese Basin, Vienna Basin in Lower Austria. It is surrounded by the hi ...

– Schottwien – Semmering –

Mürzzuschlag Mürzzuschlag () is a town in northeastern Styria, Austria, the capital of the former Mürzzuschlag District. It is located on the Mürz river near the Semmering Pass, the border with the state of Lower Austria, about southwest of Vienna. The ...

–

Mürz The Mürz () is a river in Styria, Austria, with a length of . Its drainage basin is . The Mürz begins at the confluence of the and near Kaltenbach, Neuberg and the border to Lower Austria. It passes through Mürzzuschlag. Along its course are ...

near Kapellen * to the west by the Altenberg valley – Naßkamm – Naßbach – Schwarza – Voisbach as far as the Klostertaler Gscheid.

Summits

The highest point in the limestone massif of the Schneeberg is the ''Klosterwappen'' at . Its nearby twin peak is known as the '' Kaiserstein'' (). The two summits are the highest mountains in the state of Lower Austria. The highest two elevations in the Rax

massif A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of an ...

are the '' Heukuppe'' at 2,007 m and the ''Scheibwaldhöhe'' at 1,943 m. Other peaks are the Große Scheibe (1,473 m), the Tratenkogel (1,565 m), the Ochnerhöhe (1,403 m) and the Kreuzberg (1,084 m).

Protected areas

The Rax Alpine region, together with the Schneealpe and Schneeberg belong to the river source protected area (''Quellschutzgebiet'') of the First Vienna Mountain Spring Pipeline (''I. Wiener Hochquellenwasserleitung''). The Schneeberg and Rax are separated by the Höllental valley and are two of Vienna's "local mountains" or ''Hausberge''. The Schneeberg and Rax lie within the Northeastern Border Alps: Hohe Wand-Schneeberg-Rax Special Area of Conservation (''FFH-Gebiet Nordöstliche Randalpen: Hohe Wand-Schneeberg-Rax'').
Natura_2000_FFH_Gebiet_Nordoestliche_Randalpen_Hohe_Wand_Schneeberg_Rax.pdf FFH - Gebiet Nordöstliche Randalpen: Hohe Wand - Schneeberg - Rax
'' niederoesterreich.gv.at (pdf)

Schneeberg Railway

The Schneeberg has been linked for over 100 years by the

Schneeberg Railway The Schneeberg Railway () is a local railway line in Lower Austria running from Wiener Neustadt to the Schneeberg (Lower Austria), Hochschneeberg mountain. Location Between Wiener Neustadt and Puchberg am Schneeberg (the main section) it runs ...

(''Schneebergbahn''), a cog railway that climbs to a height of 1,800 m. The twin peaks may be reached from the valley station in one to two hours. The footpath runs eastwards over the ''Hengst'' or westwards through the ''Fadenwände.'' There are trails to the Rax from the mountain spa of Puchberg am Schneeberg, and from the wild '' Höllental'' valley to the south. In addition the Schneeberg may be approached from Payerbach, Prigglitz and Reichenau via the '' Gahns''.

References

External links

Bergsteigen.at: information about scrambling tours and huts in the Schneeberg/Rax region
{{Northern Limestone Alps Mountain ranges of the Alps Northern Limestone Alps Mountain ranges of Lower Austria Mountain ranges of Styria