Austria · AT

Kaiserstein

The Kaiserstein (2,061 m) is a rocky summit knoll on the broad high shoulder of the Schneeberg, Lower Austria's highest mountain and the easternmost 2,000-metre peak in the Alps. It stands only a few metres below the Klosterwappen, the true top of the range, and right beside the little Fischerhütte hut—so reaching it feels less like a separate climb than like the crowning moment of a day on the great limestone plateau. Its name honours Emperor Franz I, who climbed the Schneeberg in 1805 and 1807, long before railways and cable cars. Today the Kaiserstein perches exactly where the plateau tilts over its edge, dropping away into the Puchberg basin far below, which makes it one of the most dramatic viewpoints on the mountain and a favourite stop for the walkers, climbers and via-ferrata enthusiasts who use the Schneeberg as Vienna's house mountain.