The Erlspitze Group (), also called the Seefeld Group, is the southwesternmost side range of the

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 ...

n part of the

Karwendel The Karwendel is the largest mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps. It is located on the Austria–Germany border. The major part belongs to the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, while the adjacent area in the north is part ...

mountains in the

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. ...

. It forms a horseshoe-shaped highland around the valley of Eppzirler Tal and is joined in the south to the

Nordkette The Nordkette, also variously called the North Chain, Northern Range, rarely the Inn Valley Range or Inn Valley Chain (''Inntalkette''), is a range of mountains just north of the city of Innsbruck in Austria. It is the southernmost of the four gr ...

by the Erl Saddle (''Erlsattel'') near Solsteinhaus. It is bounded in the west by the Seefeld Basin, in the east by the valleys of the Gleirschtal and the Großes Kristental; its forested northern foothills reach as far as

Scharnitz Scharnitz is a municipality in the district of Innsbruck-Land in the Austrian state of Tyrol located north of Innsbruck and from Seefeld in Tirol on the German border. It is one of the largest municipalities and has 10 parts: Au, Eisack, Gi ...

. Unlike the four main ranges of the Karwendel, the Erlspitze Group is made of

Main Dolomite Main Dolomite (, , ) is a lithostratigraphic unit in the Alps of Europe. Formation was defined by K.W. Gümbel in 1857. Middle to Late Triassic sedimentary record in the Alpine realm is characterized by presence of various masses of dolomitic r ...

. Typical of this rock are bizarre weathering forms, like

towers A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

pinnacles A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...

and sharply formed

arête An arête ( ; ) is a narrow ridge of rock that separates two valleys. It is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys. Arêtes can also form when two glacial cirques erode headwards towards one another, although frequ ...

s as well as

rock arch A natural arch, natural bridge, or (less commonly) rock arch is a natural landform where an arch has formed with an opening underneath. Natural arches commonly form where inland cliffs, Cliffed coast, coastal cliffs, Fin (geology), fins or Stack ...

es and

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

s as a consequence of the rapid erosion of individual rock

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...

. Its valley bases are Hochzirl, Reith, Seefeld and

, all of which are on the

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

Mittenwald Mittenwald () is a German municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria. Geography Mittenwald is located approximately 16 kilometres to the south-east of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It is situated in the Valley of the river Isar, ...

section of the Mittenwald Railway. Two

alpine club hut Alpine club huts () or simply club huts (''Clubhütten'') form the majority of the over 1,300 mountain huts in the Alps and are maintained by branches, or sections, of the various Alpine clubs. Although the usual English translation of ''Hütte'' i ...

s act as bases for tours in the area of the Erlspitze Group: in the west is the Nördlinger Hut and, in the south, is the Solsteinhaus. In the northern part of the Erlspitze Group are two huts open in summer: the Oberbrunnalm and, in the Eppzirler Tal, the Eppzirler Alm. Important peaks (by height) * Erlspitze () * Reither Spitze () * Freiungen () * Kuhljochspitze () * Härmelekopf () * Seefelder Spitze () * Fleischbanktürme () * Fleischbankspitze () * Karlspitze () * Seefelder Joch () * Zischgenkopf () * Zäunlkopf ()

Literature

* Walter Klier: '' Alpine Club Guide Karwendel alpin.'' 15th edn., Bergverlag Rudolf Rother, Munich, 2005. {{ISBN, 3-7633-1121-1. Mountain ranges of the Alps Mountain ranges of Tyrol (federal state) Karwendel