Multipitch Atlas

Seenot

Falkensteinwand, Wolfgangsee (Fürberg, St. Gilgen) · Salzkammergut · Austria

CommittingBolting confidence: high

The best known multipitch route of the Salzkammergut: seven pitches straight out of the Wolfgangsee. You abseil in from the top of the Falkenstein cliff, or arrive by boat, and start from a hanging belay at the waterline. Mostly grade 5 slabs with exposed traverses, then a steep section and a holdless corner equipped with artificial holds.

The Falkensteinwand rising from the Wolfgangsee, seen from the lakePhoto: HagenF01 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo

The Falkensteinwand rising from the Wolfgangsee, seen from the lakePhoto: HagenF01 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Hardest pitch
6b
Pitches
7
Length
185 m
Approach
30 min
Aspect
S
South-facing
Rope
1×70 m

The route

Overview

Seenot ('distress at sea') climbs the south-facing Falkensteinwand, which drops straight into the Wolfgangsee between Fürberg and St. Wolfgang. The start is exactly at the waterline and cannot be reached on foot: you either walk to the top of the cliff and abseil in, or come by boat. The climbing is mostly on slabs in the fifth grade, with two traverses, a steep fourth pitch at UIAA 7- and a smooth corner on the sixth that most people climb with the bolted-on plastic holds. The bolting is very close, so the hard passages go at 6-/A0. The name is said to date from the first ascent in 1994, when a thunderstorm forced the party to be picked up by the water rescue.

The climbing

Pitch by pitch

PitchGradeLengthNotes
P15+25 mUIAA 5+. From the hanging belay just above the water. The first move onto dry rock is slippery if you arrive by water.
P25c+28 mUIAA 6. Already somewhat steeper.
P34c37 mUIAA 4+. Pitches 3 and 4 can be linked (15 bolts), with a lot of rope drag.
P46b28 mUIAA 7-, the hardest pitch on theCrag's list. The hard moves can be aided on the bolts.
P55c25 mUIAA 6-. bergsteigen.com shows a traverse leading to the steep corner.
P66a+25 mUIAA 6+. The steep, holdless corner, fitted with bolted-on artificial holds placed so that you still climb on rock in between.
P75c+32 mUIAA 6. The last pitch to the belay with a metal plaque; Bergwelten calls the final metres a bonus.

Getting there

Approach

To the parking

Leave the A1 at Mondsee (from the east) or Thalgau (from Salzburg) and drive to the hamlet of Winkl, just east of St. Gilgen. Turn off there to Fürberg; the road ends at the lake. The car parks at Fürberg fill quickly. By public transport take the bus to Winkl and walk.

On foot · about 30 min

From Fürberg follow the Way of the Cross towards St. Wolfgang, Falkenstein and Scheffelblick up the steep forest track to station X, and turn right there towards Scheffelblick, Aberseeblick and Gschma Platzl. A little before the Scheffelblick you come to a small rock with a red-white-red mark and, to its right, a tree with a reflector for the mountain rescue; if you reach the yellow signposts you have gone too far. Leave the path to the right here and follow faint tracks to a meadow. Go down a little to where the path forks, a good place to leave sacks. Take the right-hand path slightly downhill to a fixed rope that leads to the abseil point, marked by a plaque. Abseil five times on a 70 m single rope to the water, always using the stations with chains, which are on the left as you look down. Allow 30 minutes to the abseil point. By boat it is about 20 minutes' rowing from Fürberg: land about 20 m left of a cross on the rock at three bolts, where a short fixed rope leads to the first belay.

Map of the walk-in

  • Route base
  • Parking

Loading map

The point marks the base of the route.

Coordinates · route base

47.75777, 13.39738

Parking

47.76530, 13.39170

Car park at Fürberg on the lake shore (fills quickly)

Point from bergsteigen.com map marker 'Einstieg (ungefähr)'

For your phone or watch

Download GPX

Contains the route point and parking. Opens in most mapping apps and GPS watches.

Points are compiled from published sources, with the precision stated above. They were not surveyed on the ground: check them against a current topo.

Getting down

Descent

From the last belay follow faint tracks up through steep bushes, best still roped, and traverse left at the top to the sack depot. Walk back to Fürberg by the approach path. If you came by boat, go to the abseil point and abseil back down to it.

Retreat

Bailing off the route

Committing

The abseil piste only takes you down to the lake, so without a boat there is no retreat downwards: the way out is up the route. The close bolts let you aid the hard moves at about 6-/A0, which is the practical escape. With a boat moored at the start you can abseil back to it from the belays with chains.

Retreat from
With a boat: the chained abseil stations, which lie to one side of the climbing line. Without a boat: nowhere.
Point of no return
Pulling the rope after the last abseil to the waterline.
Carry
Enough reserve to climb or aid seven pitches; a boat at the start if you want a real retreat.
Basis
Part stated, part inferredThe waterline start, the abseil piste and the A0 option are stated; the conclusion that retreat is impractical without a boat is inferred.

Partly inferred from the route facts

Safety

Hazards

  • Commitment: once you have abseiled in without a boat, the only way out is to climb the route.
  • Finding the right abseil point matters. A photo on bergsteigen.com warns of a wrong station nearby from which you end up nowhere; use the one with the plaque and the chains.
  • When you pull the rope after the last abseil it can fall into the lake. Clip it through the quickdraws of the first pitch before pulling, or top-rope the first pitch.
  • Some artificial holds wobble, and holds are sometimes removed by people who object to them, so the grade can change. In 2021 theCrag users reported that some had been taken off but the useful ones remained.
  • Thunderstorms: there is no quick way off the wall (inferred; the route name recalls a storm rescue on the first ascent).

Sun and weather

Conditions

A hot south-facing wall rising straight from the lake; Fürberg is at 545 m and the Falkenstein summit at 717 m. Start early in summer: the holds get greasy as the sun rises. Spring and autumn are the best seasons; a photo on bergsteigen.com shows a perfect day on 20 November. From October to December you are asked to climb only between 10:00 and 14:00 out of consideration for hunting.

Usual season · Apr to Jun, Sep to Oct

Sun on the wall · S-facing

Working out the sunlit hours for this month.

Sun on the wallDaylight, wall in shade● Usual season

Estimated from the wall's aspect only. Ignores surrounding terrain, gullies and the wall's exact shape. Clock times are local to the wall (Central European time), for the 15th of each month.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Mean daily high °C0251015182020161261
Mean daily low °C−8−7−4−148101073−2−7
Rain days 1 mm or more141417162121201816141315

● marks the usual climbing season. Averages for 1991-2020 at about 1004 m. Area climate from Open-Meteo reanalysis. Temperatures are adjusted to the height of the crag; rain comes from a grid cell of about 10 to 25 km, and summer highs on sea cliffs can read a few degrees low. The wall and valley can differ. Data: Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.

What to carry

Gear

A 70 m single rope, 13 quickdraws and a helmet. With the single rope the abseil in takes five stages and the rope is easier to keep out of the water. Double ropes also work: a Bergwelten party abseiled the wall in three stages on 50 m half ropes. A long cord for mooring if you come by boat.

Checklist

Quickdraws
13
Rope
1×70 m
Helmet
One each
Abseil device and prusik
The descent or the retreat involves abseiling

Derived from the route data; check it against a current topo

From climbers

Reader reports

Reader reports are not being collected yet. Until they are, check a current topo and the local club or guidebook publisher for recent changes to Seenot.

Worth knowing

Tips

  • The Falkenstein belongs to the Verein Ferienhort and is a protected landscape. Do not add new routes, and register events of five or more people.
  • Boats on the Wolfgangsee are not readily hired out to climbers; bring your own if you want the approach by water.
  • Leave everything you do not need at the fork in the path on top: you come back past it.
  • Allow about 3 hours for the climb and 4 hours in all.

Open questions

Where sources disagree

  • Pitch grades and lengths come from theCrag, whose seven lengths add up to 200 m; its grade list carries an eighth entry (5+) without a length, which is ignored here. Bergwelten and theCrag both give seven pitches. The bergsteigen.com topo is behind a login.
  • Length: 185 m (bergsteigen.com) against 200 m (theCrag).
  • Crux: theCrag puts the 7- on pitch 4, while Bergwelten and a bergsteigen.com photo caption describe the holdless corner on pitch 6 (VI/VI+ with the artificial holds) as the special difficulty. theCrag users say that since 2018 the route feels clearly easier than the topo because five of the seven pitches have artificial holds.
  • Rope: 70 m single with five abseils (bergsteigen.com) against two 50 m half ropes with three abseils (Bergwelten).
  • Bergwelten places Fürberg in Upper Austria; St. Gilgen and Fürberg are in the state of Salzburg.

Provenance

Sources

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Compiled from published sources and last verified October 2026. Bolts, anchors and access change. Climbing is dangerous and you are responsible for your own decisions: check a current topo and read the disclaimer.