We took a walk up the mountain to the south of Semmering shown in the background image.

The mountain has several ski slopes that are lit up in the winter to allow ski-ing until 10 in the evening.

The base of Hirschenkogel is about 5 minutes walk from our house.

There are basically 3 ways of getting up to the top - the cable car in the centre of the picture, the ski-lift which you can see on the right and by foot.

At the top of the mountain is an observation tower with the restaurant and bar, Lichtensteinhaus, near its base.

The first picture is from the bottom of the ski-lift.

Looking back at Semmering as we start up:

From above the ski-lift entrance:

There are many creations such as this on the tobogan run for the kids.

Edith ponders the view.

Looking across the valley...

And back down from further up:

Some more distant views:

Nearing the top we go past the tobogan run again.

Looking over at nearby Sondwendstein - the peak is above 1500 metres.

A friendly guide:

Finally we are at the top.

Here's  the top of the ski-lft.

Looking across the distant peaks:

In the centre of the picture the Panhans is quite distant below.

Looking over the balcony at Lichtensteinhaus.

As the afternoon becomes evening the sky becomes surreal:

As the light dims we walk back down

These 2 are a little edited:-)