Überling

The Überling is a forested upland ridge that stretches for about thirteen kilometres between the Prebersee in Lungau and the village of Seebach in Murau district. Its highest points lie on the Salzburg side, where the Wengerkopf reaches 1 797 metres and the Weidschober stands nearby. The ridge narrows and lowers towards Styria, where gentler slopes carry the Schrenkenbichl and Etzbichl summits. Deep glacial valleys cut the flanks on every side, while the western plateau spreads wide beneath the peaks. The ridge matters because its 80 moors form Austria’s largest single cluster of these habitats. Forty lie on the Überlinger Plateau, among them Gstreikelmoos, Überlingmoos and the Great Schattseitenmoor. Scientists regard the site as internationally important for its mix of Aapamoors and transitional bogs, some holding metre-thick peat layers. Botanist Gert Michael Steiner drew attention to the moors in the 1980s, leading to their protection under the Ramsar Convention in 2004. Walkers find wide forest tracks and gentle paths that cross the plateau and climb to the lower summits. The moors themselves lie in shallow basins, their edges lined with dwarf pines and bog cotton. The Gstreikelmoos shows a classic ring of peat moss and scrub around a central sedge mire, while the Dürrenecksee, the plateau’s largest lake, reflects the surrounding slopes. Rare plants such as small cranberry and dwarf birch grow beside carnivorous round-leaved sundew, and the restored Überlingmoos now holds the thickest peat growth in the Alps.