The karst plateau with its many colours of delicate flowers

What is the fascination of this impressive high mountain landscape?

This is the question that we will be exploring together with Betty & Martha in this NATURSCHAUSPIEL, exploring the karst plateau: cart fields in the most diverse shapes, fossils, caves and sinkholes, small mountain lakes, sharp-edged rocks, smooth stone slabs - and in the middle of it all, a sea of colours made up of delicate flowers. Above them rise the striking peaks of the Dachstein massif and its glaciers, bringing the overwhelming grandeur of the high mountains very close before our eyes.
The Dachstein plateau is a fascinating high mountain landscape and a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its uniqueness. The forces of nature have shaped the karst plateau over millions of years, numerous fossils and karst forms bear witness to this. Even today, the rainwater still exerts its erosive effect on the water-soluble limestone.

In this NATURSCHAUSPIEL, we explore in detail the typical karst forms that are created. As the water almost completely drains away through innumerable crevices and cracks in the rock, the dry surface has produced a highly specialised plant world, which blooms particularly intensively and colourfully during the short vegetation period. It stands in stark contrast to the rock desert, as do the many Dachstein mountain pastures that once existed here. They have not been bumped against for a long time, the scrub encroachment is progressing, the huts are dilapidated or only the foundations of the hut are still visible. Nevertheless, one can still see the traces of a formerly flourishing alpine pasture economy, which for thousands of years supplied the prehistoric Hallstatt with alpine products through its salt mining.
The numerous sensory perceptions of this barren high mountain landscape inspire and release power and creativity. How many representatives from the worlds of art and science devote themselves to the magic and let themselves be inspired, be it by the immense generosity of the landscape or the world of forms of the mountains, which seem immobile and timeless, as if they depict eternity, or by the train of clouds, which mix with the feeling of infinite freedom and eternal longing for the faraway and the unknown.

Afterwards you will have free time to visit the "World Heritage Spiral" on Krippenstein or the "5 Fingers Viewing Platform" with its breathtaking view of Hallstatt and Lake Hallstatt, as well as the exhibition "The Dachstein in Climate Change" in the museum Schönberg.

Important details:

Equipment:
rucksack, drink, snack, hiking boots, hiking clothes, hood, gloves, sunglasses and sun cream.

Special note:
For the hike you need full equipment as well as surefootedness, as we are hiking in high alpine terrain. The total duration includes the ascents and descents with the cable cars.

Characteristics: 
easy to moderate tour, appropriate fitness required

Duration: 
pure walking time about 3 hours, total duration of the tour about 5 hours, afterwards time for free disposal

Registration:
Betty Jehle, 4824 Gosau, Alte Gschüttstraße 15, Tel. +43 650 63 66 177, betty@betty-jehle.at