The Austrian Point of Inaccessibility lies in the Naturpark Ötscher-Tormäuer in the highly forested state of Styria, about 92km South West of Vienna:

• Latitude: 47° 44.0894‘N
• Longitude: 15° 21.3460‘E

These coordinates were calculated by Miso in July 2019.

Mapped Location of the Austrian Point of Inaccessibility

Getting to the Austrian Pole

We came at it from Salzberg where we’d spent a couple of days sampling the Christmas Markets.  The drive took around four hours in the end, along the A1 (E60) to Weiselberg where we then turned south on the 25.

Around a town called Neubruck the road starts to climb and it was definitely a cause for concern as the snow was getting thicker and thicker. Being underprepared in a hired, two-wheel drive Toyota nothing-mobile, I wondered if we were going to have to turn back after all that effort.  However, the Austrian road clearing is much more efficient than the UK and it didn’t prove a problem until the last few kilometres. And, as it was, the road dropped down the other side – turns out the POI is only at an altitude of 860m.

At Halital we turned off the metalled road onto track called Freingraben Weg and that’s where it got a bit rough on the little old car.  So we had to dump the car, ditch the flip-flops and get the walking boots on.

We walked approximately 1.5km up the road wondering just how close we’d get given that the snow was getting deeper and we were running out of daylight.  We knew that the Point of Inaccessibility was off the track and in the forest – but how far?  Frankly, I’d have been happy with being inside 2-300 metres at this point.  But conditions underfoot were reasonably stable if a little slippy.

At a bend in the track, we veered off and into the forest following deer tracks and an almost-imperceptible gulley.  After clambering over and under a few fallen trees and getting pretty wet, we found ourselves just 48m from the actual point. If we’d had proper hiking gear and a bity more daylight, I’m sure we could have made the exact POI, but at that instant we had to call it a day.  Well within error margin, so another success.

As it was, we really did just make it out of the forest in the last few photons of daylight!

Date: 17th December, 2024
Weather: 1° Celsius. Overcast.
Visited by: Chris Brown & Simika Best
Coordinates Achieved: 47° 44.0648’N, 15° 21.3571’E
Distance from Pole: 48 metres.

This Point of Inaccessibility is dedicated to Minstrel