The Hochficht ( cs, Smrčina) is a mountain on the border between

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

with an elevation of . It is situated in the

Bohemian Forest The Bohemian Forest, known in Czech as Šumava () and in German as Böhmerwald, is a low mountain range in Central Europe. Geographically, the mountains extend from Plzeň Region and South Bohemia in the Czech Republic to Austria and Bavaria in ...

mountain range. The Austrian side belongs to the Klaffer am Hochficht municipality and there is a rock outcrop with a

summit cross A summit cross (german: Gipfelkreuz) is a cross on the summit of a mountain or hill that marks the top. Often there will be a summit register (''Gipfelbuch'') at the cross, either in a container or at least a weatherproof case. Various other form ...

, a

ski lift A ski lift is a mechanism for transporting skiers up a hill. Ski lifts are typically a paid service at ski resorts. The first ski lift was built in 1908 by German Robert Winterhalder in Schollach/Eisenbach, Hochschwarzwald. Types * Aerial l ...

station and a

weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...

. The Czech side belongs to the Horní Planá municipality and is in the core zone of the

Šumava National Park The Šumava National Park ( cs, Národní park Šumava, usually shortened as NP Šumava), or Bohemian Forest National Park, is a national park in the South Bohemian regions of the Czech Republic along the border with Germany (where the smaller ad ...

. The highest point is located on the Austrian side of the mountain, the Czech-Austrian border has an elevation of .

Winter sports area

The Hochficht is also a

winter sports area A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...

, which covers the three adjacent mountain of '' Zwieselberg'' (), '' Reischlberg'' () and ''Hochficht'', and is open annually to the end of March or early April (usually until Easter). The start of the ski season here depends on the weather. There are 8 pistes with a total length of around 20 km and a

ski route {{globalize, date=March 2018 A ski route (german: Skiroute) is a signed but unpisted and otherwise unmanaged downhill ski run. As a rule, ski routes allow off-piste skiing in deep powder snow without significant risk from avalanche An av ...

. They are served by 2

drag lift A surface lift is a type of cable transport for snow sports in which skiers and snowboarders remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. While they were once prevalent, they have been overtaken in popularity by higher-capacity and higher-co ...

s and three 4-seater chair lifts (''Hochfichtbahn'' since 1994, ''Schwarzenbergbahn'' since 2001, ''Zwieselbergbahn'' since 2004) Since 2017 the 10-seater, 2-leg

gondola lift A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate supp ...

, the ''Reischlbergbahn'', has transported skiers up the ''Reischlberg''. The longest ski run is the Stierwiesen run from the Hochficht, the second longest is the FIS run, on which Europacup races take place. At the Zwieselberg there is also a FIS slalom run, where Europacup races also take place. The majority of pistes (55%) are rated as easy. The valley station is at 800 m. Six

langlauf Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

routes, three of which are free, with a total length of around 165 km complete the winter sports facilities.

Hiking

In summer all the lifts are closed and there is only a small café open. Several hiking trails, including the Nordwaldkammweg from the tripoint to the Waldviertel, run over the summit; in addition there are viewing points at Stinglfelsen () and Schönbergfelsen ().

External links

Website of the Hochficht ski lifts

References

{{Authority control One-thousanders of Austria Mountains and hills of the Czech Republic Mountains of Upper Austria Bohemian Forest Ski areas in Austria One-thousanders of the Czech Republic