Aussichtsturm Pyramidenkogel, Wooden observation tower in Keutschach am See, Austria
The Pyramidenkogel is a 100-metre wooden observation tower on the 851-metre summit of the mountain of the same name above Lake Wörthersee in Keutschach am See. Its envelope is formed by a screw of counter-rotating ellipses: 16 spiralling glued-laminated larch columns, 32 by 144 cm in profile, joined at ten levels by steel rings and braced by diagonal steel-tube ties. Below the two upper platforms sits a glazed Sky Box, and an 18-metre antenna mast crowns the structure.
A first wooden tower, 27 m tall, was built on the summit in 1950, its parts hauled up by horse and ox teams before there was a road. It was replaced in 1966–1968 by Gustav Wetzlinger's 54 m reinforced-concrete tower, nicknamed Schwammerl, blown up on 12 October 2012. The current tower by Markus Klaura, Dietmar Kaden and engineer Markus Lackner opened on 20 June 2013 and cost 8 million euros.
The tower is named after the 851-metre Pyramidenkogel mountain above Lake Wörthersee. Its shape is echoed in the structure's envelope of counter-rotating ellipses. The concrete predecessor (1968–2012) was nicknamed "Schwammerl" (little mushroom) for its slender shaft and wide platforms. Today the tower hosts events in the glazed Sky Box at 60 metres.
The lift to the lowest viewing ramp holds 16 people and takes just under 30 seconds. Alternatively, a left-curving staircase of 441 steps leads up; its wooden steps give way to embossed perforated sheet metal in the exposed middle section. From the lowest platform, stairs continue to the two higher platforms, and the Skybox on level 9 can be rented for private events outside opening hours.
The tower's slide is a coiled tube, not an indoor slide: it is the highest building slide in Europe, dropping 52 metres. Riders must be at least 130 cm tall and descend on borrowed mats at up to 25 km/h.
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