Krippenstein

The Hohe Krippenstein stands at 2 108 m in the northern rim of the Dachstein range above the Hallstätter See in Upper Austria. Its double summit includes a rugged 2 034 m outlier topped by a radio mast and the Pionierkreuz, while the main peak holds the small Krippensteinkapelle. The sheer north face of the Vorgipfel plunges 1 600 m to the lake, yet the summit station of the Dachstein-Krippenstein cable car lies only 100 m east of the highest point. The mountain was the first two-thousand-metre summit here to be reached by cable, first opened in 1947 and rebuilt in 2007–08. A spiral viewing platform, the Welterbespirale, now winds up the main summit, and the Five Fingers cantilevered viewing gallery juts over the sheer drop of the Vorgipfel. The region’s designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site brought these new structures and the title ‘World Nature Heritage View’. Visitors find a high-altitude lodge 250 m south of the summit with panoramic terraces and Relaxliegen. The Däumelsee lies on the nearby karst plateau, and a marked path leads one kilometre southeast to the large Krippensteinhöhle. From the top, the eye travels west to the Dachstein glaciers, north across the Hallstätter See to the Sarstein, and east to the Totes Gebirge and Grimming.