Fern Pass (elevation 1212 m) is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

in the

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

ean

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. It is located between the Lechtal Alps on the west and the Mieming Mountains on the east. The highest peak in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the

Zugspitze The Zugspitze ( , ; ), at above Normalhöhennull, sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains and the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, and the Austria–Germany border ...

is only 13.5 km away to the northeast. The pass lies between the Grubigstein (2233 m) on the northwest, the Wannig (2493 m) on the southeast, and the Loreakopf (2471 m) on the west.

History

The pass was created when a huge mountain slide (actually the collapse of an entire mountain, with an estimated volume of 1 km³; the third-largest mountain slide ever in the eastern Alps) filled part of the valley to a height of 300–400 meters, distributing its boulders up to 16 km away. While it was initially believed that this had happened at least 12,000 years B.P. as a consequence of the strong temperature increase and intense run-off after the end of the last deglaciation,

pollen analysis Palynology is the study of microorganisms and microscopic fragments of mega-organisms that are composed of acid-resistant organic material and occur in sediments, sedimentary rocks, and even some metasedimentary rocks. Palynomorphs are the mic ...

performed as early as 1940 had already indicated an age of not much more than 4,000 years (i.e., an event date around 2000 BC), an estimate that was essentially confirmed by

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...

in the 1960s. Using uranium-thorium dating, scientists from

Innsbruck University The University of Innsbruck (; ) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. It is the largest education facility in the Austrian Bundesland of Tirol, and the th ...

who published their data in 2007 dated the event to 4,150 +/- 100 years B.P., i.e., to the 22nd century BC which corresponds to the latest stages of the Alpine

neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

period. The landscape is marked by a series of lakes, the largest of which is the Blindsee. Most of these are believed to have been created by the mountain slide.

Traffic and Transportation

The first regular road crossing the Fern Pass was the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Via Claudia Augusta The Via Claudia Augusta is an ancient Roman road, which linked the valley of the Po River with Rhaetia (encompassing parts of modern Eastern Switzerland, Northern Italy, Western Austria, Southern Germany and all of Liechtenstein) across the Alp ...

, connecting the province of

Raetia Raetia or Rhaetia ( , ) was a province of the Roman Empire named after the Rhaetian people. It bordered on the west with the country of the Helvetii, on the east with Noricum, on the north with Vindelicia, on the south-west with Transalpine ...

to northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It had the advantage over the

Arlberg The Arlberg (, also: ''Arlberg Pass'') is a mountain pass between states of Tyrol and Vorarlberg in Austria. Ski resorts at the Arlberg include Lech, Zürs, Stuben, St. Christoph, St. Anton, Oberlech, Stubenbach, Zug, and Warth. It is the m ...

that it was relatively passable even in winter. Today's road is known as the ''Fernpass Straße'' (B 179). It connects Reutte through the Lermoos tunnel with Tarrenz and Imst. Via B 187 and B 189, it also leads to

Garmisch-Partenkirchen Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; ) is an Northern Limestone Alps, Alpine mountain resort, ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen (district), district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ...

. It also connects the Lech river valley with the

Inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway. Before the advent of motorized transportation, they also provided accomm ...

river valley. Therefore, it carries more traffic than almost any other pass in the eastern Alps, except the

Brenner Pass The Brenner Pass ( , shortly ; ) is a mountain pass over the Alps which forms the Austria-Italy border, border between Italy and Austria. It is one of the principal passes of the Alps, major passes of the Eastern Alpine range and has the lowes ...

. The steepest gradient is 8 percent, and the elevation gain from Reutte to the pass is 359 m. On the other side to Telfs, the elevation gain is 579 m.

External links

Pictures from the Fern Pass
{{Authority control Mountain passes of Tyrol (federal state) Mountain passes of the Alps Lechtal Alps Reutte District Mieming Range

History

Traffic and Transportation

See also

External links