The Pasterze, at approximately 8.4 kilometres (5.2 mi) in length, is the longest

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

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 ...

and in the

Eastern Alps The Eastern Alps are usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley, up to the Splügen Pass at the Main chain of the Alps, Alpine divide, and down the Liro (Como), Liro River to Lake Como in the south. ...

. It lies within the

Glockner Group The Glockner GroupKev Reynolds, Reynolds, Kev (2005). ''Walking in the Alps'', 2nd ed., Cicerone, Singapore, p.409, . () is a sub-group of the Austrian Central Alps in the Eastern Alps, and is located in the centre section of the High Tauern on ...

of the

High Tauern The High Tauern (plural, pl.; , ) are a mountain range on the Main chain of the Alps, main chain of the Central Eastern Alps, comprising the highest peaks east of the Brenner Pass. The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian states of Salz ...

mountain range in

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

, directly beneath Austria's highest mountain, the

Grossglockner The Großglockner ( ), or just Glockner, is, at 3,798 metres above the Adriatic (12,461 ft), the highest mountain in Austria and highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass. It is part of the larger Glockner Group of the Hohe Ta ...

Geography

The glacier reaches from its head, the Johannisberg peak at , to above sea level ( m AA). The Pasterze forms the source region of the

Möll The Möll (; presumably from , "rubble") is a river in northwestern Carinthia in Austria, a left tributary of the Drava. Its drainage basin is . Course The river rises in the High Tauern range of the Central Eastern Alps on the Pasterze Glacie ...

river, a left tributary of the

Drava The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus, is a river in southern Central Europe.

. Its waters also feed the Margaritze reservoir, used to generate electricity at the Kaprun hydropower plant north of the Alpine crest. The name ''Pasterze'' is possibly derived from , "pasture". Indeed the detection of wood, peat and pollen in the area of the retreating glacier indicate vegetation and also the use as pastureland during the last

interglacial An interglacial period (or alternatively interglacial, interglaciation) is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age. The current Holocene i ...

period until about 1,500 BC. The surrounding area was purchased by the

German and Austrian Alpine Club The German and Austrian Alpine Club (, DuÖAV) was a merger of the German, Austrian and German Bohemian Alpine Club that existed from 1873 to 1938. History In 1862 the ''Sektion Austria'' was founded in Vienna by the academics Paul Grohmann, Fr ...

in 1918; today the glacier is part of the High Tauern

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

. The Pasterze is a major tourist destination, accessible via the scenic Grossglockner High Alpine Road and a funicular railway that leads down to its margin. Since its opening in 1963, the edge of the glacier has retracted about from the lower station.

References

External links

Pasterze Glacier Trail

Multi-temporal satellite view of Pasterze Glacier
{{Coord, 47, 05, 08, N, 12, 43, 24, E, region:AT-2_type:glacier_source:dewiki, display=title Glaciers of Austria Landforms of Carinthia Glaciers of the Alps Glockner Group Tourist attractions in Carinthia

Geography

See also

References

External links