Günstner Wasserfall

The Günstner Wasserfall is a waterfall on the Schöderbach stream in the Murau district of Styria. At sixty-five metres it is the highest waterfall in the region and one of the main sights along the upper Mur valley. The water plunges through two polished rock basins and three broad cascades, carrying between two hundred and fifty and three hundred litres every second. The first ladders and walkways were built in 1906, when an official opening ceremony took place. During the First World War the wooden structures rotted and falling stones wrecked the ladders. In 1930 the local beautification society began new steps, completed in June 1931, and a marble tablet was fixed at the base with an inscription. Renovations followed in 1954 and 1955, then again in 1994. Visitors follow a path from the village of Schöder to the foot of the fall. A flight of stone steps and a small bridge lead up the left side of the gorge. From the top there is a view across the valley and back to the cascades. The marble tablet records the 1931 opening, and the protected status granted in 1959 keeps the site safe for future generations.