A very impressive hike in the Alps - Traunstein at Traunsee

When I visit the lake Traunsee in the Austrian Salzkammergut I am always impressed by the Traunstein which is a mountain directly located at the lake. It is 1691 meters high and you can see it from everywhere on the lake.

View from Ebensee

View from Villa Spitz in Traunkirchen

The fascination about this mountain caught me and I wanted to hike to the top of it. When I started to investigate about the different routes and hikes I realized that the Traunstein is not like a regular mountain. The hikes are pretty demanding and there are a lot of myths and legends about this mountain. There is one book which describes this in detail. Also there is an exhibition in Gmunden. But all these stories couldn't prevent my friends and me to hike the mountain last weekend. We decided to take the Naturfreunde Steig since it is one of the easier hikes and you always see the lake. Also we booked a bed in the Naturfreunde Hütte at the top so that we were able to stay overnight there and enjoy the sunset (and the great Schnaps). As the day of the writing, it is €14 to sleep in the mountain lodge and €10 for the excellent breakfast

Already at the beginning of the hike you can see the impressive mountain. Also, the trail starts quite challenging.

The Traunstein from the beginning of the trail

If you are not in a rush and take breaks for taking pictures and enjoying the view the hike will take you about 4 hours. I heard that there are people which can finish it in about 1 hour, but maybe this is also one of the many myths of the Traunstein

The entry of the trail

Impression of the trail

After about 2 hours of walking we did our first break. We ate a snack and enjoyed the astonishing view. Also we took photos which I want to show you ;-)

View from somewhere in the middle

The second half of the hike continues to be challenging. You have to climb ladders, rocks and over fallen trees. It's nice and never gets boring. After two more hours, we reached the Naturfreunde Hütte.

Panorama view, click to enlarge (about 5MB)

View from the top

View from the top

At the lodge we enjoyed the great food and tasted some of the Schnaps they had. The sunset was extraordinary and because it was a nice warm summer evening, we also drunk some good beer under the free sky.!

Impressions of the sunset and night view

After a good sleep over we ate the great breakfast and went down again. For the way down back to the lake we didn't choose the Naturfreunde Steig. We took the easier trail Maria Alm trail. It is longer but the paths are not so exposed therefore they are not so dangerous. After we came back to the lake we jumped into the Traunsee. The water is very cold (about 17C°) but it was refreshing and a pleasure.