Ramsau am Dachstein

To the north of Schladming the Ramsau (1,000-1,200m/3,300-3,900ft), a high plateau 18km/11mi long by 4km/2.5mi wide, extends below the imposing face of the Dachstein massif. This is a popular walking and skiing area with a strung out hamlet of the same name (pop. 2,000). A road 16km/10mi long (part of the way subject to toll) passes through Ramsau-Kulm (1,082m/3,550ft) and Ramsau-Ort (1,136m/3,727ft) to a parking lot at the Türlwandhütte (1,715m/5,627ft). From here the Ramsau Gletscherbahn or Dachsteinsüdwandbahn (cableway) climbs northeast to the Hunerkogel (upper station 2,700m/8,860ft), on the Schladming glacier (summer skiing); to the east rears the Grosser Koppenkarstein (2,865m/9,400ft). From the Türlwandhütte it is a half hour climb to the Dachsteinsüdwandhütte (1,871m/6,139ft; inn; accommodation), a base of the Dachstein climbing school; immediately opposite rises the mighty southern face of the Dachstein.

The Hoher Dachstein (2,995m/9,827ft) can be climbed by experienced mountaineers in five hours, with a guide.

To the south the mountains fall sharply in a long wall some 1,000m/3,300ft high to the green Alpine foreland of the Ramsau, which extends in a garden-like terrace 18km/11mi long and 3km/2mi wide between the Dachstein and the deeply slashed Enns valley. The northern face encloses within steep rock walls two magnificent mountain lakes, the fjord-like Hallstätter See and the Gosausee.