Did you ever hear of an “Eiskraxen”? Well, even if tranlsation might be easy, but the terms are not. “Ice” is a clear term, but “Kraxe” is a rather fuzzy one, even in German. The word refers to both carrying devices and rough but fragile objects such as scaffolding. In this case it is a scaffolding-like carpentry work that only serves its purpose in winter. Namely the ice making. Ice as a coolant at a time when there were no refrigeration machines in the catering and commercial sectors. They resorted to chopped ice from ponds or, with splashed water this was possible, to icicles that were relatively easy to “harvest”. The municipality in which this form of ice extraction was practiced is located on the northern edge of the Alps on the southern border of Lower Austria. At the beginning of the 19th century, businesses for iron production settled in this area and the area was opened up with a railway line that came from Traisen. If this winter is too warm for you and you want a frosty glimpse into the area around St. Aegyd, then enter it´s history from its cold side here.