Vorderer Polster

The Vorderer Polster stands at 1994 metres in the Hochschwab range of the Northern Limestone Alps, forming the southern edge of a high karst plateau. The Hinterer Polster, 63 metres higher, sits near the centre of this undulating limestone surface. Both peaks rise above a landscape scarred by karst features—dolines, shafts and caves—while steep walls plunge on every side. The Polster summits belong to the Pfaffingalm-Hochschwab nappe, a tectonic unit lifted during the Miocene. Their reef limestone, typical of the Hochschwab, resists erosion yet dissolves easily, creating deep shafts and vast chambers. Cavers have named three of these voids: the POL-Monster doline, 386 metres deep with a snow-blocked entrance; the Kalter-Hintern shaft, 153 metres deep; and the Furtowi shaft on the Vorderer Polster’s west flank, once the deepest cave in the massif at 712 metres. No marked trails lead to either peak. An unmarked spur from the Sonnschienalm path climbs toward the Öhler but soon fades among Latschen fields and dolines. Ski tourers occasionally follow these slopes in winter. From the plateau the view stretches north over the Lang-Eibel gorge and the Great Griesstein, while the southern horizon shows the Grasserwand’s near-vertical cliffs.