Vorderwaldberg is a

dispersed settlement A dispersed settlement, also known as a scattered settlement, is one of the main types of settlement patterns used by landscape historians to classify rural settlements found in England and other parts of the world. Typically, there are a num ...

in the Oberpinzgau, the upper

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

valley and the district of Zell am See/Pinzgau, and also a village in the municipality of

Wald im Pinzgau Wald im Pinzgau is a municipality in the district of Zell am See (Pinzgau region), in the state of Salzburg in Austria. Municipal divisions The villages in the municipality, apart from Wald, are (further up the valley) Hinterwaldberg, Königsle ...

, on the southern edge of the

Kitzbühel Alps The Kitzbühel Alps (german: Kitzbüheler Alpen or ''Kitzbühler Alpen'') are a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps surrounding the town of Kitzbühel in Tyrol, Austria. Geologically they are part of the western slate zone ( greywacke zon ...

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 ...

Geography

The settlement, which has about 90 inhabitants and 30 houses, lies up the valley from Wald im Salzachtal, on the southern slopes of the Salzach valley, the ''Vorderwaldberg'', at an altitude between on the Old Gerlos Road (''Alten Gerlosstraße'', the L 133). The homesteads (''Einöden'') of ''Bachbauer'' and ''Watschbauer'', and several other

farmstead A homestead is an isolated dwelling, especially a farmhouse, and adjacent outbuildings, typically on a large agricultural holding such as a ranch or station. In North America the word "homestead" historically referred to land claimed by a settl ...

s belong to the village that extends for about in an east–west direction.

History

Vorderwaldberg lies on the old mule track (''Saumpfad'') from

Mittersill Mittersill ( bar, Mittasü) is a city in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria, in the Pinzgau region of the Alps. It is located on the Salzach River. It has a population of 5,408 as of 2011. Geography Mittersill lies approximately 25 km to the ...

as a trading hub on the route over the

Gerlos Pass Gerlos Pass (elevation 1,500 m, 4,921 ft) is a mountain pass in the Austrian Alps between the Oberpinzgau region in the state of Salzburg and the Zillertal valley in Tyrol. The old road leads from Wald im Pinzgau to Gerlos in the Zillertal va ...

(Pinzgauer Höhe) to

Zell am Ziller Zell am Ziller is a municipality in the Schwaz district in the Austrian state of Tyrol. The name derives from the river Ziller. Climate Population Facilities The Zillertal Arena was formed in 2000 from a merger of the ski area A ski area ...

. It was upgraded into a cart track in 1631. In 1962 the new Gerlos Alpine Road (''Gerlos Alpenstraße'') via Krimml (today part of the B 165 Mittersill – Hainzenberg) was opened, that had been planned by graduate engineer

Franz Wallack Franz Friedrich Wallack (24 August 1887 – 31 October 1966) was an Austrian civil engineer. He mainly designed and built mountain pass roads, in particular the Grossglockner High Alpine Road across the High Tauern range between Salzburg and Carin ...

, the builder of the Großglockner High Alpine Road (''Großglockner Hochalpenstraße''). Consequently the Old Gerlos Road (''Alte Gerlosstraße'', today the L 133) lost its importance.

Tourism and places of interest

The Sixt Chapel (''Sixtkapelle'') on the ''Sonnberg'', below the Vorderwaldberg, on the Old Gerlos Road (). Below the Sixtus Chapel lies the Augentrost Chapel (''Augentrostkapelle'') which is also worth a visit. The

Arno Trail The Arno Trail (german: Arnoweg) is an approximately long-distance trail through the Austrian Alps. The highest point is atop the Sonnblick () near Bad Gastein, and in total the trail has over of elevation gain. The highest elevations are in t ...

(''Arnoweg'') runs through this village, from Hinterwaldberg and

Lahn The Lahn is a , right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km). It has its source in ...

, as a climb to the ''

Pinzgauer Spaziergang The Pinzgau Ridgeway (german: Pinzgauer Spaziergang or ''Pinzgauer Höhenweg'') is a roughly 25 kilometre long ridgeway in the Kitzbühel Alps in the Austrian federal state of Salzburg. Location and route The ridgeway runs parallel to the ...

''.

References

; Sources {{Geographic location , title = , Northwest = , North = , Northeast = , West =

, Center = Vorderwaldberg , East = Rosental (Neukirchen) , Southwest = , South = Wald , Southeast = Wald im Pinzgau Zell am See District Kitzbühel Alps