The Kaunertal is a municipality and alpine valley in the

Landeck Landeck () is a city in the Austrian state of Tyrol, the capital of the district of Landeck. Geography Landeck is located in the Tyrolean Oberland in the west of the state at an elevation of about . The town is situated in the valley of the Inn ...

district 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 ...

. The municipality is located about southeast of

at the upper course of 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. The Kaunertal valley is 28 km (17 mi) in length and runs southeast from the town of Prutz (884 m) to the Kaunertal Glacier. The valley is traversed by the Faggenbach river, which rises south of the

Weißseespitze The Weißseespitze is a mountain in the Weisskamm group of the Ötztal Alps The Ötztal Alps (, ) are a mountain range in the Central Eastern Alps, in the Tyrol (state), State of Tyrol in western Austria and the South Tyrol, Province of South ...

mountain (3044 m) and flows into the Inn river at Prutz (884 m), the site of a hydroelectric power station. The Gepatsch Reservoir (''Gepatsch Stausee''), which is located on the upper course of the Fagge river, is in length, has a capacity of 138,000,000 m³, and is formed by a rockfill dam that is long and high. The dam was constructed in 1961. Water from the lake is used to generate electricity through a pipe system in length, located at the south end of the Kaunertal. The generator facility at Prutz produces 620 million kilowatt hours per year. The lake surface is at an altitude of . The main town in the valley is Kauns (1050 m), located near the Inn river, with its Schranz Chapel containing the ''Kauner Kreuz''. The Kaunertal Glacier Road continues up to the Weißenseeferner glacier. This

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...

is the fifth highest paved road in the Alps and reaches an elevation of 2750 m (9025 ft). With 29 180-degree turns, the road leads all the way to the base of the ski area at . The main source of income is this glacier ski area with slopes and 10 lifts, which was opened in 1982. Due to the ski area's elevation of , and the glacier, it is operational from mid-October to mid-June. The ruins of the thirteenth-century Bernegg Castle with its Gothic chapel are also located in the valley.

Notable people

Alexander Van der Bellen Alexander "Sascha" Van der Bellen (; born 18 January 1944), also referred to by the abbreviation VdB, is an Austrian politician serving as the president of Austria since 2017. He previously served as a professor of economics at the University ...

(born 1944),

President of Austria The president of Austria () is the head of state of the Austria, Republic of Austria. The office of the president was established in 1920 by the Constituent National Assembly (Austria), Constituent National Assembly of the First Austrian Repu ...

References

External links

Kaunertal Tourist Guide
Valleys of Tyrol (federal state) Cities and towns in Landeck District {{Tyrol-geo-stub

Notable people

See also

References

External links