Attersee · Austria · Wall · Freshwater
Schwarze Brücke
A limestone wall dropping in stages past 100 m, capped at 40 m for recreational divers
Area photo: Florian Prischl · CC BY-SA 3.0
Schwarze Brücke, on the eastern shore at Steinbach, is the Attersee's best-known and most dangerous dive: a limestone wall that starts with rock formations around 10 m and then drops in stages past 100 m. The dive centre coordinating the site caps recreational dives at 40 m, and crosses and flowers left at the entry mark a long record of fatal accidents here.
Where it is and how deep
47.8044° N, 13.5471° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The entry is a steep walk down from the roadside, either by a staircase beside a barrier or a narrow path further along, and both routes are marked with crosses and flowers left for divers who did not come back up. Once in the water the wall announces itself quickly: fascinating rock formations begin around 10 m, and from there the face steps down through a series of ledges and overhangs rather than falling in one clean drop.
Below the first few ledges the wall keeps going, described locally as falling in stages to depths of over 100 m, with white sediment and mussel growth on the rock lower down. The Attersee's diving competence centre sets a working limit of 40 m for dives here, which is already enough to put most divers deep into cold water and firmly on the wall rather than looking for a floor.
Water clarity is the reward for the depth: reports from the site describe 15 to 20 m of horizontal visibility even in disturbed conditions, rising toward 25 to 30 m in winter. None of that changes what the wall is, though — a genuinely technical dive with a long and serious accident history, where a torch, a planned turnaround depth and a buddy who will hold you to it matter more than anywhere else on the lake.
Background
German-language sources describe Schwarze Brücke as the site responsible for the Attersee's grim reputation among divers: rescue-service statistics record thirteen divers recovered dead here between 1971 and February 2009. The same stretch of wall has also drawn technical divers chasing depth; on 18 September 2005 Hans Brandstätter reached 165 m here and set an Austrian diving depth record.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Prime |
Season follows Attersee: Diving runs year-round; visibility peaks near 30 m in winter, while July and August bring more bathers, boat traffic and sometimes murkier water.
Know before you go
- The wall continues in stages well past 100 m; the working limit here is 40 m and there is no safe floor to arrest an uncontrolled descent.
- Rescue-service records list thirteen divers recovered dead at this site between 1971 and February 2009, mostly linked to exceeding safe depth or training limits.
- Both entry routes are steep, and one requires rope assistance on the descent to the water.
Questions divers ask
How deep can you dive at Schwarze Brücke?+
The wall itself drops in stages to depths of over 100 m, but the local diving competence centre sets a working limit of 40 m for dives at this site, which is the figure recreational and most technical visitors should plan around.
Is Schwarze Brücke dangerous?+
It has a serious accident history: rescue-service records list thirteen divers recovered dead here between 1971 and February 2009. The wall itself, the depth and cold water are unforgiving of poor buoyancy control or exceeding training limits.
Sources
- Attersee — Wikipedia (German)
- Taucheinstiegstelle Schwarze Brücke — Attersee-Attergau Tourismus
- Attersee, Schwarze Brücke/Wand — Taucher.Net
- Tauchspots — Nautilus Tauchschule am Attersee
In The Logbook
- Diving at altitude: why the rules changeBody & health · 7 min read
- Why the water steals your heatBody & health · 8 min read
- Buoyancy and weighting, worked outGear & kit · 8 min read
- Freshwater diving: lakes, springs and quarriesFreshwater · 15 min read
More dive sites in Attersee
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Freshwater
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Similar dives elsewhere
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