Hochtrötsch, Mountain summit in Styria, Austria

Hochtrötsch is a 1,239-metre mountain in the Grazer Bergland, rising about 800 metres above the Mittleres Murtal in the market municipality of Semriach. Its summit, seen from north and south, has a trapezoidal shape built of Devonian dolomite and coral limestone. A small massif, it includes the Rinnweberkogel (1,041 m) to the southwest and the Fragnerberg (1,109 m) to the southeast, separated by the Trötschsattel (1,067 m).

The name Hochtrötsch comes from the Slovene word drča, meaning a chute for sliding timber, and was first recorded in writing in 1293 as "Dretsch". In 1931 the Graz scientist Friedrich Schmiedl launched the world's first official mail rocket from the summit.

The name Hochtrötsch goes back to the 1293 written form "Dretsch", from Slovene drča, a slide for tree trunks. Legends grew around the mountain's forests and farmland: a farmer who found a gold cave, and Juri the Strong, said to have carried a barrel of wine home from Semriach. The farm name Rüsterbauer survives at Trötschweg 5 in Schönegg.

The climb from the eastern starting point takes about two hours on marked trails with roughly 300 meters of elevation gain. The terrain is manageable in good hiking shoes and the paths are easy to follow.

On 2 February 1931, the Graz scientist Friedrich Schmiedl launched the world's first "official" postal rocket from the summit of Hochtrötsch. The rocket carried mail, making this 1,239 m peak a landmark in the early history of rocket mail.