Photo spot in Gosau & the Gosausee
The Gosaukamm ridge
A wall of limestone teeth running for ten kilometres along the western side of the valley, with the Bischofsmütze at the far end — the hardest edge in a soft landscape.
About The Gosaukamm ridge
Get directionsThe Gosaukamm is the ridge that closes the Gosau valley on its western side: a serrated line of pale limestone towers, dropping straight into forest, that runs south from the Vorderer Gosausee towards the twin summits of the Bischofsmütze. It is the reason photographs from this valley look nothing like the rest of the Salzkammergut — everything else here is rounded and green, and this is vertical and bare.
From the lake shore the ridge fills the right-hand side of the frame and gives a subject something with real weight behind it. From the Zwieselalm on the opposite side of the valley you see the whole line in profile, which is the version worth walking for.
The rock faces east, so it takes direct sun in the morning and turns pale gold in the last half hour of the day, when the valley below is already in shadow. In cloud the towers come and go, which can be better than clear weather: a peak appearing out of moving cloud is a stronger picture than a peak that was always there.
Snow sits on the ledges into June and returns from November, and the winter version — black rock, white ledges, low sun — is the most graphic. Paths under the ridge are alpine terrain and need proper footwear; the viewpoints from the valley floor and the cable car do not.
Best time to shoot
The last half hour of light on the rock, or a morning with moving cloud on the towers
Tips
You do not have to climb to use the ridge: the lake shore and the Zwieselalm both hold it in frame. Anything on the paths beneath the towers is alpine terrain — proper footwear and a weather check first.
Other spots in Gosau & the Gosausee
The Vorderer Gosausee and the Dachstein reflection
A green lake at 933 metres that holds the Dachstein, its glacier and the Gosaukamm towers upside down on a calm morning — and it is thirty seconds from the car park.
The trail to the Hinterer Gosausee
A gravel track past the Gosaulacke to the last lake in the valley, an hour and a half in — greener, emptier and directly under the Dachstein glacier.
The Zwieselalm meadows and the Gosaukammbahn
A cable car lifts to open alpine pasture at about 1,475 metres on the far side of the valley, and from up there the whole Gosaukamm stands in profile.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know The Gosaukamm ridge — free of charge.