The Reißeck, also Großes Reißeck ("Great Reisseck") is, at 2,965

metres above the Adriatic Metres above the Adriatic ( it, Metri sopra l'Adriatico, german: Meter über Adria, Serbo-Croatian: ''Metara iznad Jadrana'') is the vertical datum used in Austria, in the former Yugoslavian states of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Serbia, ...

(9,728 ft), the highest peak of the

Reißeck Group The Reisseck Group or Reißeck Group (german: Reißeckgruppe) is a small mountain sub-range in the Austrian state of Carinthia. As the southern part of the Ankogel Group, it belongs to the High Tauern range of the Central Eastern Alps. Geograph ...

in the

High Tauern The High Tauern (pl.; german: Hohe Tauern, it, Alti Tauri) are a mountain range on the 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 S ...

of Carinthia,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. The range forms the southern part of the larger

Ankogel Group The Ankogel Group (german: Ankogelgruppe) is a sub-group of the Central Eastern Alps. Together with the Goldberg Group, the Glockner Group, the Schober Group, the Kreuzeck Group, the Granatspitze Group, the Venediger Group, the Villgraten Moun ...

with its highest summit, the

Hochalmspitze The Hochalmspitze (3,360 metres above the Adriatic (11,020 ft)) is located east of Mallnitz in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is sometimes called "Tauern Queen" (german: Tauernkönigin) as a counterpart to the "Tauern King", the Gross ...

, separated by the col of ''Mallnitzer Scharte'' at . The mountain also gives its name to the

Reißeck Reißeck is a municipality in the district of Spittal an der Drau in Carinthia, Austria. Geography Situated within the valley of the Möll river, a tributary to the Drava, Reißeck is located about northwest of the district capital Spittal an ...

municipality, located to the south in the

Möll valley The Möll (; presumably from sl, Mel, "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 ...

. The name ''Reißeck'' is derived from an old waterbody name, something like ''Reisach'' = "mountain stream" or "torrent", which became the Middle High German ''rîs'' = "the falling one". West and south of the summit block lie the reservoirs of the

Verbund Verbund AG, formerly known as Verbundgesellschaft or Österreichische Elektrizitätswirtschafts-AG, is Austria's largest electricity provider. Verbund covers around 40 percent of electricity demands in Austria and generates 90 percent thereof fro ...

Reißeck-Kreuzeck

hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of ...

group, connected with the neighbouring

Kölnbrein Dam The Kölnbrein Dam is an arch dam in the Hohe Tauern range within Carinthia, Austria. It was constructed between 1971 and 1979 and at high, it is the tallest dam in Austria. The dam's reservoir serves as the primary storage in a three-stage pump ...

in the Malta Valley. The

Reisseck Railway The Reisseck Railway (sometimes Reißeck Railway, german: Reißeckbahn) is a mountain railway, that runs from Carinthia's Möll valley into the Reißeck Group, a small mountain range in southern Austria. It comprises the Reisseck Funicular and th ...

(''Reißeckbahn'') funicular and the narrow-gauge

Reisseck Mountain Railway The Reisseck Mountain Railway (german: Reißeck-Höhenbahn) was a narrow gauge railway with a track gauge of 600 mm, that started at the top station of Schoberboden on the Reisseck Funicular Railway in Austria. It was closed in 2014. Histo ...

, built in the 1950s for the construction of the power station, later ran passenger services and was used for the access of tourists from the Möll valley up to the

Alpine hut A mountain hut is a building located high in the mountains, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. Mountain huts are usually operated by an Alpine Club or some organizatio ...

s. Operations on both lines ceased in 2014/2016 and were not resumed so far. The Reißeck Hut, built in 1908 and managed by the ÖGV section of the

Austrian Alpine Club The Austrian Alpine Club (german: Österreichischer Alpenverein) has about 573,000 members in 196 sections and is the largest mountaineering organisation in Austria. It is responsible for the upkeep of over 234 alpine huts in Austria and neighbour ...

, is located at in the immediate vicinity of the former ''Schoberboden''

top station A top station or upper stationFor example, se''Chairlift Blausee (upper station)''at www.outdooractive.com. Retrieved 15 May 2019. is usually the highest station of an aerial lift, a funicular, a T-bar lift or a rack railway. The lowest station is ...

, right below the dam of the ''Großer Mühldorfer See'' reservoir. A nearby hotel and the adjacent small

ski area A ski area is the terrain and supporting infrastructure where skiing and other snow sports take place. Such sports include alpine and cross-country skiing, snow boarding, tubing, sledding, etc. Ski areas may stand alone or be part of a ski resort. ...

, opened in the 1960s, today are closed. Reisseck -Gipfelkreuz

The

normal route A normal route or normal way (french: voie normale; german: Normalweg) is the most frequently used route for ascending and descending a mountain peak. It is usually the simplest route. Overview In the Alps, routes are classed in the following w ...

runs via the Kalte Herberg col and south

arête An arête ( ) is a narrow ridge of rock which 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 freque ...

, an easy climb, to the summit, but it does require

sure-footedness Sure-footedness is the ability, especially when hiking or mountain climbing, to negotiate difficult or rough terrain safely. Such situations place demands on a person's coordination and reserves of strength as well as requiring sufficient apprecia ...

. Starting points are the Reißeck Hut or the unmanaged Neue Moos Hut. East-northeast of the Großes Reißeck lies the ''Kleines Reißeck'' peak ("Little Reisseck", 2,924 m); the ridge crossing runs along steep grassy slopes, but is otherwise technically easy.Liselotte Buchenauer, Peter Holl: ''

Alpine Club guide The ''Alpine Club Guides'' (german: Alpenvereinsführer, commonly shortened to ''AV Führer'' or ''AVF'') are the standard series of Alpine guides that cover all the important mountain groups in the Eastern Alps. They are produced jointly by the Ge ...

Ankogel- und Goldberggruppe'',

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'', has published the Alpine Club Guides in cooperation with the Ge ...

, Munich, 1986. , pp. 295 ff., Rz 1247 ff. The Reißeck summit offers panoramic views to the surrounding High Tauern ranges, as well as to the

Dolomites The Dolomites ( it, Dolomiti ; Ladin: ''Dolomites''; german: Dolomiten ; vec, Dołomiti : fur, Dolomitis), also known as the Dolomite Mountains, Dolomite Alps or Dolomitic Alps, are a mountain range located in northeastern Italy. They form pa ...

Karawanks The Karawanks or Karavankas or Karavanks ( sl, Karavanke; german: Karawanken, ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps on the border between Slovenia to the south and Austria to the north. With a total length of in an east–west di ...

and

Julian Alps The Julian Alps ( sl, Julijske Alpe, it, Alpi Giulie, , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretch from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia. A large p ...

in the south.

Literature and map

Herbert Gantschacher Herbert Gantschacher (born December 2, 1956, at Waiern in Feldkirchen in Kärnten, Carinthia, Austria) is an Austrian director and producer and writer. Education 1976 Gantschacher graduated on the second school in Klagenfurt. From 1977 to 19 ...

: ''Neues Musiktheater 'Kar' - Eine beispielhafte Kooperation zwischen Industrie und Kunst am Reißeck'', in ''Der Kulturmanager'', Kognos-Verlag, Stadtbergen, 1998 *

Alpine Club map Alpine Club maps (german: Alpenvereinskarten, often abbreviated to ''AV-Karten'' i.e. AV maps) are specially detailed maps for summer and winter mountain climbers (mountaineers, hikers and ski tourers). They are predominantly published at a scale o ...

1:25,000, Sheet 44, ''Hochalmspitze - Ankogel'' (the Reißeck is on the lower edge of this map)

References

External links

''Reißeck'' auf www.summitpost.org
(englisch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Reisseck Mountains of the Alps Two-thousanders of Austria Reisseck Group Mountains of Carinthia (state)