Diving Erlaufsee

Site Overview

Erlaufsee is a mountain lake dive site in Vienna & Lower Austria, Austria, set among the country’s varied freshwater landscapes. Erlaufsee sits at roughly 800 m in the mountains south of the Ötscher, a crystal-clear lake whose water is fed by springs and snowmelt rather than streams. Massive underwater rock walls and slabs drop away from the shore, giving the dive a dramatic vertical dimension unusual for an Austrian lake of this size. Submerged trees stand on the slope and the edges, ghostly shoals of minnows and roach shimmer over the rocks in the clear water. Because the lake is at altitude, diving here requires altitude procedures or a computer altitude mode and conservative planning on multi-dive days. The water stays cold below the shallow warm layer, so a drysuit and good thermal layering are strongly recommended even in high summer. It is a quieter, wilder alternative to the city lakes, popular with photographers who want clean rock faces and long sightlines without a long drive. Conditions are typical of Austrian inland water: visibility generally runs from 10 to 25 metres, the current is low and the water temperature ranges between 4 and 18 degrees Celsius depending on season and depth. The marine life is freshwater and centred on lake trout (brown trout), arctic char, european minnow, with the full community described below for those planning a dive. Because of its intermediate rating and the need for Advanced Open Water certification, Erlaufsee is best approached with the right thermal protection and, where relevant, altitude or overhead training. It is a representative example of why Austrian lake diving, with its cold clarity, submerged forests and wrecks, attracts divers who want something different from tropical reefs.