Oberjochpass

Oberjoch
	B 308 at Oberjoch, in the background Kühgundkopf and Iseler
Pass height	1178 m above sea level NHN
Lock	No
Mountains	Allgäu Alps
	profile
	Map (Bavaria)
Coordinates	47 ° 31 '32 " N , 10 ° 25' 54" E Coordinates: 47 ° 31 '32 " N , 10 ° 25' 54" E

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The Oberjochpass is a 1178 m high mountain pass in Germany , which is located in the southern part of Bavaria about 800 m west of the border with Austria in the Allgäu Alps .

geography

Aerial view of the Jochstrasse

The road leading over the Oberjochpass connects the valley of the Ostrach near Bad Hindelang ( Oberallgäu district ) first in the village of Oberjoch with that of the Wertach and then with the valley of the Vils in the Tannheimer valley near Schattwald ( Reutte district ). The highest point of the pass road at 1178 m is not on the actual watershed between Wertach and Vils. This is located about 500 meters further east at 1150 m above sea level, directly at the former border crossing between Germany and Austria.

The pass road is a federal road on both sides : on the German side the B 308 , on the Austrian side the B 199 . At the former border crossing, the B 308 becomes the B 199. The B 199 continues south-east through the Tannheim Valley and over the Gaicht Pass into the Lech Valley .

The B 308 is the second highest German federal highway. The highest federal road is the B 317 with the Feldbergpass (1231 m above sea level).

The Oberjochpass not only provides the transition to Tyrol , but also the direct connection with the Wertacher area and the Ostallgäu. From Oberjoch the federal highway 310 leads over Unterjoch to Wertach and on to Füssen .

The Oberjoch Pass is part of the “ German Alpine Road ” holiday route .

history

Modern times

Jochstrasse around 1900

From 1540 to 1550, the road from Sonthofen via Hindelang to Oberjoch was built under Count Hugo von Montfort . At the same time, Archduke Sigismund of Tyrol had a road built from Weißenbach am Lech over the Gaichtpass through the Tannheimer Valley to the Gähwinde . This was the first time that a continuous road from Illertal to Lechtal had been created, the gradients of which were steep but not difficult. As a result, Montfortstraße and Gaichtpassstraße became more and more popular and increasingly attracted the movement of goods. The new salt route soon became an important trade route between Tyrol and the Rhine , as the Arlberg was notorious for its difficulty and the Reichsstrasse via Kempten (Allgäu) too far. As early as 1662, 15,850 salt barrels (one barrel weighed about 5 quintals ) were shipped on Jochstrasse . No less than 300 horses were out and about every day. At the time, that was a huge traffic that led to prosperity. The residents of the communities of the Tannheimertal as well as those of the Ostrach valley were not burdened with any levies.

In Bad Hindelang, the so-called salt fountain is a reminder of the salt trade over the Oberjoch Pass.

The huge traffic on the salt trade route required extensive organization and government supervision. A Grödordnung , given in 1603 and renewed in 1795, provided the necessary regulation of the extensive trade routes, with rod stations or factories and salt towns being built on the routes intended for this purpose . There were trading shops in Nesselwängle , Hindelang (now Bad Hindelang), Immenstadt and Simmerberg ( Weiler-Simmerberg ), and there was an upper trading shop in Reutte . There was also a large salt warehouse there. A salt barn was located on the Oberjoch (now marked by a memorial plaque). It was only built in 1809 and only served its purpose until 1823, when the salt trade on Jochstrasse ceased entirely. In Hindelang there was also a salt barn, which was converted into a residential building in 1828 and demolished in 1930, as well as the salt factory, which was built in 1671 by salt factor and mare farm manager Thomas Scholl.

20th century

Preparations for a new Jochstrasse began in 1894, and construction began in 1895. It was designed from the outset for heavy traffic, was given a respectable width and, above all, a slight gradient. The difference in altitude of 300 m from Hindelang to Oberjoch was bridged with 106 curves.

During the Third Reich , the Oberjoch Pass was renamed the Adolf Hitler Pass . In the war and after the war, the maintenance of the Jochstrasse was neglected, so that it fell into a deplorable condition. From spring to October 1952 the Jochstraße was renewed to a well-tended car road.

In 1975 the federal highway 310 via Unterjoch to Wertach was completed. It serves as a connection between the Oberjochpass and the Wertacher area and the Ostallgäu . From 1980 to 1982 the B 308 was expanded on the route from Oberjoch over the 1176 m pass (on the Gähwinde) to the state border.

From the former border station between Allgäu and Tyrol, the 11-kilometer Sebald Trail leads to the birthplace of the poet WG Sebald in Wertach . The path is accompanied by steles with text excerpts from Sebald's story Il ritorno in Patria .

Sports

Not far south-west of the Oberjochpass, the Joch race as a mountain race took place on a section of the B 308 between Bad Oberdorf and Oberjoch (districts of Bad Hindelang) . The “Jochpass Memorial” for vintage cars has been held every year since 1999 in conjunction with the “Historic Rally”.

panorama

and display information about the image

View from the pulpit, the lookout point on the Jochpass, into the Ostrach valley: left Bad Oberdorf , right Bad Hindelang . Mountains from the left: Pfannenhölzer, Breitenberg , Thumb , Rotspitze , Nebelhorn , Deinenkopf , Imberger Horn, the ridges of the Hörnerkette and the Nagelfluhkette

The pulpit, the lookout point on the Jochpass
Image chapel of the salt drivers near Oberjoch
Jochpass, memorial stone in the form of a Roman milestone
View into the Ostrachtal: left Bad Oberdorf , middle Bad Hindelang and right down Jochstraße

Individual evidence

↑ Steffan Bruns: Alpine passes - from the mule track to the base tunnel, vol. 1, p. 129

Web links

Commons : Oberjochpass - collection of images, videos and audio files

[1] Steffan Bruns: Alpine passes - from the mule track to the base tunnel, vol. 1, p. 129