The Torsäule () is a very steep, about 500-metre-high

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

formation on the eastern flank of the

Hochkönig massif The Hochkönig is a mountain group containing the highest mountain (Hochkönig) in the Berchtesgaden Alps, Salzburgerland, Austria. The Berchtesgaden Alps form part of the Northern Limestone Alps. Location It lies to the west of the town of Bis ...

in the

Berchtesgaden Alps The Berchtesgaden Alps (, ) are a mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps, named after the market town of Berchtesgaden located in the centre. It is crossed by the Austria–Germany border: the central part belongs to the Berchtesgadener Lan ...

. The imposing column (''Torsäule'' means "gateway column"), which bears a

summit cross A summit cross is a Christian cross on the summit of a mountain or hill that marks the top. Often there will be a summit register (''Gipfelbuch'') at the cross, either in a container or other weatherproof case. The practice originated in the Ge ...

, lies immediately north of the ascent route to the Hochkönig from the Arthurhaus, a thousand metres below, and measures about 500 × 200 metres at its base. In an east-west direction it looks like a giant column, but on reaching the high plateau of the Übergossene Alm it slowly disappears below the local horizon. Its south face which tapers towards the top is almost vertical, whilst the other faces have average gradients of about 60 to 80°. Structurally, the Torsäule rises in front of the mountain ridge which the high plateau of the Hochkönig massif and its plateau glacier bound on the eastern side and which opens like a rock arena in a semi-circle facing the column and looking towards the

Salzach The Salzach (Austrian: �saltsax ) is a river in Austria and Germany. It is in length and is a right tributary of the Inn (river), Inn, which eventually joins the Danube. Its drainage basin of comprises large parts of the Northern Limeston ...

valley. The Torsäule rises, as the crow flies, roughly between the eastern top of the

Schoberköpfe The Schoberköpfe are several ridge-shaped peaks, arranged along the eastern edge of the Hochkönig plateau in the Berchtesgaden Alps, and which lie in a semi-circular arc that opens towards the east facing the Salzach valley: * Southwestern Sc ...

(2,666 and 2,708 m) and the Königs- and Bratschenköpfe (2,630 to 2,857 m). On the other side (north-facing) it drops down to the ''Eiskar'', beyond which the Teufelskirche mountain 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 ...

lie on the steep slopes of the Schoberköpfe. The elongated, rocky

cirque A (; from the Latin word ) is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by Glacier#Erosion, glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from , meaning a pot or cauldron) and ; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform a ...

on the south side, past the foot of which the path runs, has the name, rather common in Salzburg, of '' Ochsenkar''. If one times it well – starting off before dawn – one can experience the sunrise at the foot of the Torsäule or as one passes. If one continues to climb for about an hour to the side of the Torsäule one sees its rounded tip for a last time in front of the background of the Tennengebirge and the morning clouds, before it sinks beneath the plateau of the Hochkönig. The south face of the Torsäule, with its 36 prepared tours, is the most climbed face on the Hochkönig. Several of these routes are very frequently used and are some of the top routes of the

Northern Limestone Alps The Northern Limestone Alps (), also called the Northern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps north of the Central Eastern Alps located in Austria and the adjacent Bavarian lands of southeastern Germany. The distinction from the ...

: Jolly Joker 9, Opera Vertikal 8+, Afrika 8.

Literature and maps

* Albert Precht: ''Kletterführer Hochkönig'', Panico Alpinverlag, 2002. * Albert Precht: '' Alpenvereinsführer Hochkönig'',

Bergverlag 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, 1989. *

Alpine Club map 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 ...

Sheet 10/2 ''Hochkönig – Hagengebirge''. 1:25,000 series. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Torsaule Two-thousanders of Austria Mountains of the Alps Berchtesgaden Alps