Rauchkogel

The Rauchkogel is a 1 875-metre peak in the Ankogel group of the Central Alps. It stands above the village of Harbach in the municipality of Bad Hofgastein, Salzburg. Nearby summits include the Krämerkogel to the north-east and the Aukopf to the south-east. Two alpine pastures, the Schockalm and the Schock-Heimalm, lie on its northern flanks. The mountain’s slopes drop steeply into the Gastein valley on its western side. From 1890 until 1930 miners worked a stope on the southern slope, extracting asbestos and talc at first intermittently and then continuously between 1920 and 1930. The rock here is mainly marble, phyllite and mica-schist, with bands of quartzite and breccia on the northern and southern sides. The eastern slopes form a protected wildlife zone for chamois from December to May. Visitors who reach the summit find open limestone slabs and patches of rusty-leaved alpine rose. South-east of the top the slopes are covered with green alder scrub. The northern side carries dense spruce forest that merges into meadows grazed by cattle in summer. A broad ridge connects the Rauchkogel to the Aukopf, offering wide views over the Hohe Tauern range.