{{Short description|Mountain range in Austria}} {{other}} {{Infobox mountain | name = Wechsel | other_name = (Wechsel region) | map = Austria | map_caption = | image = Wechsel Satellitenbild.png | image_caption = The Wechsel region from 10,000 metres | state = Lower Austria and Styria, Austria | parent = Prealps East of the Mur (AVE) / Cetic Alps and East Styrian-Burgenland Hills (Trimmel); Eastern Alps | location = | geology = Triassic carbonate, quartzite/quartz conglomerate, arkose slate-breccia-porphyroid-series (Wechsel slate, Alpine verrucano) | age = Permian/Triassic (300–200 MYA) | area_km2 = | type = foothills | highest = Hochwechsel | elevation = {{Höhe|1743|AT}} | length_km = 15 | coordinates = {{coord|47.5303|15.9138|type:mountain_region:AT|format=dms|display=inline,title}} }}
The '''Wechsel''' is a low mountain range in eastern Austria whose highest summit is the '''Hochwechsel''' ({{Höhe|1743|AT}}). It also has two other summits over 1700 m. The massif forms the border between the states of Lower Austria and Styria for about 15 km, southeast of the Semmering and northeast of the Graz Basin, between the Feistritz Saddle and the eponymous pass of Wechsel.
== Geography == thumb|left|The Hochwechsel The Wechsel is part of the Prealps East of the Mur. It is – apart from the Vienna Woods which are half the height – the easternmost range in the Alps. Its highest point, at {{Höhe|1743|AT}}, is the ''Hochwechsel'', formerly called the ''Hoher Umschuss'', at the top of which is the Wetterkoglerhaus, an Alpine Club hut belonging to the Austrian Alpine Club. From there the crest of the mountains runs northwest to the ''Umschußriegel''<!-- Name lt. BEV 1:50000--> ({{Höhe|1720|AT}},) continuing to the ''Schöberlriegel'' ({{Höhe|1704|AT}}), and east to the ''Niederwechsel'' ({{Höhe|1669|AT}})<!-- Höhe lt. BEV 1:50000-->.
The Wechsel is the boundary between the Styrian ''Joglland'' and the ''Bucklige Welt'', which stretches from the Vienna Basin to the extreme southeast of Lower Austria. To the east this region transitions into the ''Pinka valley'', the ''Güns Mountains'' and the ''Pannonian Plain''.
Important settlements at the foot of the Wechsel, which benefit from tourism associated with the mountain, are Aspang, Aspangberg-St. Peter, Dechantskirchen, Feistritz am Wechsel, Friedberg, Kirchberg am Wechsel, Mönichkirchen, Mönichwald, Pinggau, Trattenbach, Sankt Corona am Wechsel, Sankt Jakob im Walde, Sankt Lorenzen am Wechsel, Vorau, Waldbach and Wenigzell.
[[File:Aufnahmeblatt 4956-3 Kirchberg Feistritz Wechsel Mönichkirchen.jpg|thumb|The "Hohe Umschuß" (below left) around 1873 (photograph by the Landesaufnahme)]]
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{cite web|author1=K. Schuster|author2=R. Berka|author3=E. Draganits|author4=W. Frank|author5=R. Schuster|periodical=Geologische Bundesanstalt Arbeitstagung 2001 - Neuberg an der Mürz. Beiträge |title=Lithologien, Metamorphosegeschichte und Tektonischer Bau der Kristallinen Einheiten am Alpenostrand |pages=29–56 |date=2002 |language=German |url=http://homepage.univie.ac.at/erich.draganits/pdf/Schuster%20et%20al%202002.pdf }} * {{cite web|author=Peter Faupl |periodical=Mitteilungen der Geologischen Gesellschaft in Wien |title=Zur Geologie und Petrographie des südlichen Wechselgebietes |volume=63 |location=Wien |pages=22–51 |date=1970 |language=German |url=http://www2.uibk.ac.at/downloads/oegg/Band_63_22_51.pdf }}
== External links == {{Commons category|Wechsel}} * {{Austriaforum|AEIOU/Wechsel|Wechsel}} * {{Austriaforum|AEIOU/Hochwechsel|Hochwechsel}}
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Category:Mountain ranges of Lower Austria Category:Mountain ranges of Styria Category:Mountain ranges of the Alps Category:Mountains of Lower Austria Category:Mountains of Styria Category:Mountains of the Alps Category:Neunkirchen District, Austria Category:Prealps East of the Mur Category:Ski areas and resorts in Austria