Hiking trip: Rax

Rax is a mountain range on the border between Lower Austria and Styria. The summit, called “Heukuppe”, is at about 2000m. Today I went on a hiking trip there with my brother and one of my buddies. We drove by car to a height of about 1150m and started our journey to the top from there. Nature and vegetation on the Rax is very diversified, you have everything from dense forrest up to a very barren landscape where you only see rocky debries and some mountain pines. In between you have juicy meadows,  chamoises and lots of plain rocks.

Weather today was beautiful and between 15-25 degrees celsius, so you could see for kilometers on end. Due to the weather there were quite a lot of people there but there are so many routes you can go, so only at the summit it’s busy.

The route to the top took about 3 hours including breaks and ranged from quite steep passages with some broad gravel roads in between to the begin of an alpine climb.

Starting the trip over a forest track

On the way to the top

Although marked as a black route (meaning difficult) you can go up there, provided you don’t have fear of height and are quite sure-footed. You don’t need a lot of experience to manage it, but some previous hiking trips in rocky environment should go on your account. The climb follows a steel cable with some iron footholds. In between there is an iron ladder of about 7-8 meters but nothing too fancy. All in all it takes about 15min from start to end.

The begin of the climb

From the top of the climb it’s about 45min until you stand at the top. The last bit is quite steep and we were driven to the top by hunger so we made a break of about 20min once we were up. Standing there, you have a beautiful 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains and a very unique light atmosphere created by the sun and the clouds that move by.

Panoramic view from the summit

From the summit it’s pretty much straight down, over some meadows and into a rocky pathway. On the way down you start to feel your thighs and calves, especially as you have to go on very loose gravel all the time which tends to slip away beneath your feet.

Looking back the way we went down

Downwards we were going on the westside of the mountain were it reveals a completely new face of itself. Beautiful views as far as your eye can reach and very crooked and bent trees and bushes.

Panorama shot on the way down

The last part of about 30min back to the car is not as breathtaking or special as you just walk on a forest track and make your way down.

All in all it took about 5.5 hrs and was moderately exhausting; Not for total beginners but you don’t need to be Reinhold Messner to do it. A clear recommendation from my side and a fun way to spend a beautiful day on a mountain to regenerate your batteries and let your thoughts and spirit flow freely.