Mittelbergferner
| Mittelbergferner | ||
|---|---|---|
 The wide glacier areas of the Mittelbergferner, below the Wildspitze |
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| location | Tyrol , Austria | |
| Mountains | Ötztal Alps | |
| Type | Valley glacier | |
| length | 6 km | |
| surface | 9.9 km² (1999) | |
| Exposure | Nutrient area: northeast; Consumption area: north | |
| Altitude range | 3570 m above sea level A. - 2250 m above sea level A. (1975) | |
| Coordinates | 46 ° 55 '5 " N , 10 ° 53' 41" E | |
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| drainage | Pitze → Inn → Danube | |
The Mittelbergferner is the second largest glacier in Tyrol after the Gepatschferner and is located in the Ötztal Alps , at the end of the Pitztal valley . The Mittelbergferner currently covers an area of 9.9 km². As for most alpine glaciers, the Mittelbergferner has also seen significant glacier retreat due to global warming in recent decades .
Position and shape
The Mittelbergferner is located south of the end of the Pitztal valley. It is located on the northern edge of the main Alpine ridge in the middle of the Ötztal Alps , just a little northeast of the Wildspitze , North Tyrol's highest mountain. The highest peaks in the frame of the Mittelbergferner are the Hintere Brunnenkogel ( 3440 m ), the Schuchtkogel ( 3472 m ), the White Kogel ( 3409 m ), the Mutkogel ( 3309 m ) and the Linke Fernerkogel ( 3277 m ). Right in the middle of the Mittelbergferner is the Recht Fernerkogel ( 3300 m ), which divides the glacier in two halves with its ridge running southwest to the Schuchtkogel. The tongue of the Mittelbergferner flows north in the direction of the Pitztal, from where the Pitze , the eponymous brook of the Pitztal, rises . Much of the meltwater from the Mittelbergferner has been transported in a 10 kilometer long, underground tunnel to the Gepatsch reservoir since 1964, where it also feeds the Kaunertal power station.
history
Although the Mittelbergferner is one of the largest glaciers in the Eastern Alps , like the other Pitztal glaciers it is only mentioned very late in the literature, especially in comparison to the neighboring Ötztal glaciers, such as the Vernagtferner . But the inhabitants of the Pitztal have certainly also observed the changes on the glacier and especially the threatening advances. This is evidenced by a glacier procession to the Mittelbergferner, which was still common at the beginning of the 20th century and which was intended to avert impending disaster. At the time of the furthest advance around 1855 , when the tongue of the glacier ended at an altitude of 1795 m , only 750 meters into the valley from Mittelberg , a pulpit was carved into the glacier, from which the clergyman asked the kneeling in front of the glacier Pilgrims spoke. According to the pilgrims at the time, the painter Hans Beat Wieland recorded this act in a picture in Munich.
Even with the periodic outbreaks of the ice lake that formed near the Braunschweiger Hütte and the flooding caused by it, the Mittelbergferner did not make itself particularly popular with the locals, even if the consequences of these ice outbreaks were not comparable to those in the Ötztal. However, the locals also knew how to take advantage of the proximity of the glacier to their farms, because the glacier gate was used as a cooling chamber for the slaughtered cattle.
Development as the Pitztal Glacier ski area
The development of the Mittelbergferner as a ski area began in 1983 with the commissioning of the Pitztal Glacier Railway . From the mountain station of the Pitztaler Gletscherbahn at an altitude of 2860 m , skiers between the Brunnenkogel and the Mittelbergjoch had five further ascent aids that reach up to the summit of the Hinterer Brunnenkogel ( 3440 m ).
Today the Pitztal Glacier ski area forms a network with the Rifflsee ski area .
A considerable expansion of the ski area is currently planned and partially implemented. These expansion measures are referred to as a security concept that is to be implemented in three stages. In 2006, after six years of fierce disputes and numerous negative decisions, the controversial project of a valley run through the Grießal valley to the glacier tongue was implemented. This descent is known as an emergency route and is intended to ensure that the ski area can be evacuated if the glacier cable car fails. The third stage of this so-called safety concept includes the construction of an "above-ground feeder system" for a cable car from Mittelberg to the Linke Fernerkogel . In the course of this measure, a few more slopes are to be developed and also the Hangende Ferner and Karlesferner mountains are to be included, and a merger with the Ötztal ski area on the Rettenbachferner is planned. These projects are extremely controversial, against which the Alpine Club and environmental protection associations in particular speak out.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ swisseduc.ch, Glaciers online: Mittelbergferner and Brunnenkogelferner
- ↑ a b Statistical Handbook of the State of Tyrol 2009, page 29
- ^ WGMS: Fluctuations of Glaciers Database. World Glacier Monitoring Service, Zurich 2012 ( DOI: 10.5904 / wgms-fog-2012-11 ), accessed on February 7, 2013
- ↑ Bernhard Pötter (2020). Glacier in Tyrol: gray-faced naked mole rat. TAZ, August 14, 2020. Access date: August 17, 2020. https://taz.de/Gletscher-in-Tirol/!5707164/
- ↑ Dr. Wolfgang Gattermayr: The glaciers of the inner Pitztal ; In: B. and E. Pinzer: Pitztal. , Page 25, see literature
- ↑ B. and E. Pinzer, page 175, see literature
- ↑ Pitztaler Gletscherbahn Ges.mbH & Co KG, Current Projects ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Austrian Alpine Association, Department of Spatial Planning / Nature Conservation, 7. St. Leonhard / Pitztal Development ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
literature
- B. and E. Pinzer: Pitztal. Edition Löwenzahn, Innsbruck 2000, ISBN 3-7066-2204-1