Admonter Kogel

The Admonter Kogel is a 566-metre hill in Graz’s Bergland, part of the northern city limits. It stands west of St. Veit, separated by the Falkenbach stream, and forms the southern tip of the Hohen Rannach ridge. To the west the land falls toward the Mittleren Murtal valley, while across the Mur the Göstinger Ruinenberg marks the point where the valley widens into the Grazer Feld plain. At the hill’s southern base lies Schloss St. Gotthard, and nearby are the Weinzödl sports centre and a busy road junction. The hill belongs to the protected landscape area Nördliches und östliches Hügelland von Graz and shelters a legally protected stand of wild service trees on its southern slope. The hill’s surface consists mainly of colourful Devonian Steinberg limestone, often dolomitic and folded by past earth movements. Geologists recognise layers of dolomite sandstone and diabase from the Rannach facies as well. The southern side is rocky and steep, while the northern flank slopes gently toward the Pailgraben valley. The summit plateau, described by Arthur Winkler-Hermaden, continues north-east toward Leoben as part of the Stadelberg planation surface. The rock faces on the southern flank attract climbers with routes between 10 and 30 metres high. The best-known feature is the Andritz-Weinzödl climbing garden, offering eighty to ninety routes of varying difficulty. Beginners favour the sunny walls because short approaches and easy climbs up to UIAA grade 6 are available. A long traverse at the base of the boulders adds variety. Loose rock has long posed a hazard, and the Austrian Alpine Club has warned climbers since 2015 about the risk of falling stones.