Gössnitztal

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Gössnitztal

The Gössnitztal is a side valley of the Mölltal in the Schober group of the Hohe Tauern . It is located in Carinthia , Austria . The next municipality is Heiligenblut am Großglockner . The length of the valley is approx. 9 km as the crow flies from the Gössnitzfall to the Elberfelder Hütte. The valley is uninhabited except for herdsmen and women in summer.

The Gössnitztal belongs entirely to the Hohe Tauern National Park . It is considered to be one of the most pristine and least man-made valleys in the Eastern Alps.

Geography and geology

Gössnitzfall natural monument

The Gössnitztal is a hanging valley and therefore very difficult to access. At the lower end it drops steeply into the Möll valley. The Gössnitz, which gave the valley its name, falls more than 100 m in the Gössnitzfall ( natural monument ). Because during the Ice Ages (120,000 to 11,000 B.C.E.) the Pasterzen glacier filled the entire Möll valley and lowered it.

From the Gössnitzfall at 1460  m the valley rises to the Elberfelder Hütte at 2230  m .

The mountains surrounding the Gössnitztal are made up of polymetamorphic rocks ( old crystalline ). Predominant rocks are mica , paragneisses , graphite slate , quartzite and hornblende , in the amphibolite , orthogneisses and Serpentinite are turned on.

On the east side of the valley are at around 2350  m above sea level. A. three mountain lakes, the Vordere, Mittlere and Hintere Langtalsee. They are cirque lakes with a clearly pronounced Karschwelle , a Karboden and a steep Kartreppe . The lakes are only several meters deep.

The valley is surrounded by the following mountains:

vegetation

In the lower elevation of the valley there is subalpine spruce forest with some deciduous forest areas. This is followed by the alpine pastures and larger stocks of high-mountain, natural larch-pine forest . This is repeatedly interrupted by green alder bushes , wet meadows and spring corridors. Above the tree line there are large stocks of dwarf shrub heather , especially chamois heather and alpine roses, which in the area of ​​the Elberfelder Hütte changes into crooked sedge grass . In the back valley at 2190  m there is a moor with large stocks of Scheuchzer's cotton grass . This type of plant can also be found at the rear Langtalsee.

history

The name Gössnitz is of Slavic origin and Gössnitztal can be interpreted as a Ziegental, cf. Slovenian * koznica (to koza 'goat'). This and the name Malesischk Alpe indicate that the Gössnitz valley originally belonged to the Slavic language area.

In the late Middle Ages there were mines for gold , silver and copper in the Gössnitz valley .

Because of the difficult accessibility, agricultural use of the valley as an alpine pasture did not begin until the 15th century. This explains why there are even larger pine stocks here.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Gössnitz valley was still of great economic and social importance for the farmers of the Möll valley. Almost all of the local farmers had rights of uplift for the Gössnitz. In addition, dairymen and women were able to lead a relatively independent life here in summer and escape many of the social constraints that existed in the valley due to the strict moral supervision of the church .

In 1928 the Elberfeld section of the DÖAV built the Elberfelder Hütte at the upper end of the valley.

In the early 1980s there were plans to build a huge dam at the end of the Gössnitz valley and to dam the Gössnitzbach. These plans were shelved with the designation of the Carinthian part of the Hohe Tauern National Park in 1981.

It was not until the 1990s that a very steep road was blasted into the rock that directly connects the valley with Heiligenblut. Before it was only accessible via the Leitertal and the Trogalm and Bruchalm. The road is closed to general car traffic and can only be used by authorized persons.

Alpine pastures

The following alpine pastures are located in the Gössnitztal:

  • Ausserebenalm
  • Innerebenalm
  • On the plan
  • Ochsnersalm
  • Hinterm-Holz-Alm
  • At the Kaserle
  • Malesischk Alpe
  • Wirtsbauernalm
  • Bruchalm

tourism

According to the Rother hiking guide, a circular hike through the Gössnitz valley takes ten hours (pure walking time). Therefore, an overnight stay in the Elberfelder Hütte is recommended. The path runs from the Zasch car park in Mölltal over the steep road past the Gössnitzfall to the Bruchalm, then, after another steep ascent, it leads relatively flat through the Gössnitzklamm . Here in the front part of the valley the brook has cut deeply into the rock. In the middle section, the valley widens and the path repeatedly leads through wooded areas past various alpine pastures. It rises steadily until the tree line at the Hinterm-Holz-Alm is reached. Then it leads through larger stocks of alpine rose heather, moss and alpine meadows to the Elberfelder Hütte. From here a detour to the Red Button is possible; however, especially in early summer, large and steep snow fields have to be overcome, which requires the use of crampons . From the Elberfelder Hütte the path leads over the three Langtal lakes back to the valley exit. This section is said to be moderately difficult. Some exposed areas are insured with fixed ropes. Behind the lakes, there are large stocks of larch-stone pine forest to be crossed, then the Malesischk Alpe follows, until you come to the Wirtsbauernalm after a very steep descent through pure larch forest. Then the path leads back over the steep road into the Mölltal.

From the Malesischk Alpe above the Wirtsbauernalm a path leads to the large alpine pasture area Retschitz east of the Gössnitz valley and then through the larch-spruce forest directly down to the Hadergasse district of Heiligenblut.

There is a snack station on the Wirtsbauernalm in the central Gössnitz valley at 1745  m . It is open from the beginning of June to mid-September.

In the rear of the Gössnitztal near the Elberfelder Hütte , numerous other paths converge, including the Wiener Höhenweg , the one from the Glorer Hütte over the Kesselkeessattel near Böse Weibl to the Elberfelder Hütte and then on over the Hornscharte or Klammerscharte to the Adolf-Noßberger-Hütte in Gradental leads.

The Elberfelder Weg runs from the Elberfelder Hütte over the Gössnitzscharte to the Lienzer Hütte in the Debant Valley .

literature

  • Helmut Hartl, Thomas Peer: Flora. Hohe Tauern National Park, Scientific Writings, Klagenfurt 1989.
  • Michael Jungmeier, Judith Drapela: Almen. Hohe Tauern National Park, Scientific Writings, Matrei in Osttirol 2004.
  • Werner Maier: Glockner region. Rother hiking guide, Munich 2012.

Web links

Commons : Gößnitztal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karl Krainer, Roswitha Fresner, Ursula Ponta, Wolfram Mostler, Liselotte Schulz, Gabriele Wieser: Hydrogeological and limnological investigations of the Langtalseen (Vorderer, Mittlerer and Hinterer Langtalsee) in the Gößnitztal (Carinthia). In: Carinthia II. 190./110. Year, Klagenfurt 2000, pp. 641–657 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
  2. ↑ Helmut Hartl, Thomas Peer: Plant World. Hohe Tauern National Park, Scientific Writings, Klagenfurt 1989, p. 161.
  3. ↑ Mountain names. In: uni-klu.ac.at.
  4. ↑ Michael Jungmeier, Judith Drapela: Almen. Hohe Tauern National Park, Wissenschaftliche Schriften, Matrei in Osttirol 2004, pp. 60–64 and 149–150.
  5. ↑ Michael Jungmeier, Judith Drapela: Almen. Hohe Tauern National Park, Scientific Writings, Matrei in Osttirol 2004, p. 149.

Coordinates: 47 ° 0 ′ 28.4 ″  N , 12 ° 46 ′ 39 ″  E