Katrin

The Katrin is a mountain in the Salzkammergut range in Upper Austria, near Bad Ischl. It belongs to the Katergebirge in the Gamsfeld group and rises to 1,542 metres. A gondola lift runs from Bad Ischl up to the Katrin Alm in about fifteen minutes, climbing from 474 metres to roughly 1,415 metres above sea level. The lift is a single-rope circulating system with room for four passengers, covering about 2,490 metres of inclined length. Its drive sits in the mountain station, and the line was opened in 1959, rebuilt between 1976 and 1978, and given a major electrical upgrade in 2009. The mountain has long been a focus for visitors and local figures. In 1910 a large crowd watched the unveiling of the Franz Joseph’s Cross on the Elferkogel, a memorial to Emperor Franz Joseph I’s eightieth birthday. A committee led by figures such as Franz Adelsmayr, Karl Brandhuber, Otto Heinke and Josef Zeppetzauer pushed for the construction of the Katrin lift, which was completed in six months with over a thousand tonnes of materials hauled up the mountain. In 1978 the rebuilt lift was inaugurated with speeches by Mayor Karl Saller and Landeshauptmann Josef Ratzenböck, and in 2019 a special ‘confession gondola’ was blessed for spiritual talks during the ride. At the summit visitors find the gleaming Kaiser-Franz-Josephs-Kreuz, now lit by bulbs and reached by the winding Fahrner-Rössler path. A 300-metre klettersteig leads along the brink of the steep northern crags to the cross, secured by continuous 14-millimetre steel cables and graded B–C. The mountain also hosts a transmitter that serves the Salzkammergut and Dachstein region. Below, the annual Katrinberglauf race climbs 943 metres over 4.5 kilometres from the valley station to the top, where records stand at 31 minutes 14 seconds for men and 39 minutes 48 seconds for women.