The Hornbach chain () is a string of mountains, about 15 kilometres long, in the

Allgäu Alps The Allgäu Alps () are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps, located on the Austria–Germany border, which covers parts of the Germany, German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg and the Austrian states of Tyrol (state), Tyrol an ...

in 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 state of

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 ...

Geography

The Hornbach chain branches at the

Öfnerspitze The Öfnerspitze is a 2,576 m (2,575 m in Austrian maps) high, rocky mountain in the Allgäu Alps. Location and area The Öfnerspitze lies southeast of the Krottenspitze and is joined to it by a flat saddle. Ascent There are no ma ...

from the main line of the Allgäu Alps and runs in a gentle arc from north to east. In the far west, it branches at the Hornbachspitze and a side ridge runs southwards in which the most important peak of the whole chain, the

Großer Krottenkopf The Großer Krottenkopf is the highest mountain in the Allgäu Alps of Austria. It is Bundesamt für Eich- und Vermessungswesen Austria: Austrian Map online (Austrian 1:50,000 map series)''. and is part of a side branch of the Hornbach chain, wh ...

(2,656 m) is located. The mountain is also the highest in the whole of the Allgäu Alps. In the west the range is bounded along this side branch by a line that reaches from Holzgau in the south, runs along the Höhenbachtal and Rossgumpental valleys to the Öfnerkar in the north. The boundaries of the main ridge of the Hornbach chain are formed in the north by the Hornbachtal valley with its settlement of

Hinterhornbach Hinterhornbach is a municipality in the district of Reutte in the Austrian state of Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core o ...

, in the south by the

Lechtal The Lechtal is an alpine valley in Austria, the greater part of which belongs to the state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the smaller part to Vorarlberg. The Lech (river), Lech river flows through the valley. Location The valley is bounded geogr ...

from Holzgau to Vorderhornbach, where it unites with the Hornbachtal. At the junction of the two valleys lies the easternmost mountain of the group, the Klimmspitze. On the main ridge of the Hornbach chain, the highest peaks are the Marchspitze (2,609 m), the Bretterspitze (2,608 m) and the Urbeleskarspitze (2,632 m), which are all in the ten most important summits of the Allgäu Alps.

List of peaks

The most important peaks on the main ridge of the Hornbach chain, from west to east, are: The side branch of the Hornbachspitze - in the extreme west of the chain - branches southwards and includes the following peaks:

Literature and maps

* Dieter Seibert: '' Alpenvereinsführer Allgäuer Alpen und Ammergauer Alpen''.

Bergverlag Rudolf Rother Bergverlag Rother is a German publisher with its headquarters in Oberhaching, Upper Bavaria. Since 1950 the company, that formerly went under the name of ''Bergverlag Rudolf Rother'', had published the Alpine Club Guides in cooperation with the G ...

, Munich, 2004. *

Alpenvereinskarte Alpine Club maps (, often abbreviated to ''AV-Karten'' i.e. AV maps) are especially detailed maps for summer and winter mountain climbers, hikers, and ski tourers. They are predominantly published at a scale of 1:25.000, although some sheets have ...

2/1 Allgäuer-Lechtaler Alpen – West (2004 edition) *

2/2 Allgäuer-Lechtaler Alpen – Ost (2006 edition)

External links

{{Coord, 47, 19, 58, N, 10, 27, 44, E, type:mountain_region:AT-7, display=title, name=Bretterspitze Mountain ranges of Europe Mountain ranges of Tyrol (federal state) Allgäu Alps