Alberfeldkogel

The Alberfeldkogel is a 1 700-metre peak in the Höllengebirge range of Upper Austria, less than two kilometres west of the Feuerkogel cable-car station. It stands above the Salzkammergut lakes and faces the glaciated peaks of the Dachstein massif. The summit offers wide views across the surrounding limestone ridges and valleys. The mountain is known for its Europakreuz, a five-metre-high cross unveiled in June 2006 during Austria’s EU Council presidency. Each cube in the cross represents an EU member state and contains a stone from that country, chosen to reflect its character. Pupils and teachers from HTL Wels designed and built the cross, and a scale model has been on display at Reinhold Messner’s mountain museum in South Tyrol since 2007. A gentle path from the Feuerkogel cable-car station reaches the summit in about fifty minutes. Near the top, the HTL Wels Via Ferrata follows the north-east ridge, graded C, and ends at the Europakreuz. The final section rewards walkers with a broad panorama of the Salzkammergut lakes and the distant Dachstein glaciers.