Shaft drive over the Ötztal Alpine ridge

Shaft drive on the Hochjoch (2018)

Niederjochferner and Similaun

The sheep drive over the Ötztal Alpine main ridge enables sheep farmers from the Vinschgau in South Tyrol , Italy , to use their traditional grazing rights in the rear Ötztal in Austria. For this purpose, sheep and goats are driven northwards along three different, partially glaciated pass routes in early June and in the opposite direction in mid-September.

This cross-border transhumance was recognized in Austria as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011 and included in the national directory of the Austrian Commission for UNESCO .

Routes

Sign at the shepherds' festival in Vernagt

Sheep from the Vinschgau Valley are driven to their pastures above Vent via two different routes. One leads over the Niederjoch ( 3,019  m above sea level ), the other via the Hochjoch further west and (despite the name) lower ( 2770  m above sea level ). Most of the sheep come from the Vinschgau , from which they first come from Kortsch / Schlanders through the Schlandrauntal and over the Taschenjöchl / Taschljoch to Vernagt in Schnalstal or Kurzras at the end of the Schnalstal.

Sheep from the Passeier north of Merano reach their pastures above Obergurgl via the Timmelsjoch  ( 2474  m above sea level ) . Until 1962 the last-mentioned shaft drive took place over the Gurgler Ferner , crossing the main Alpine ridge on the Gurgler Eisjoch  ( 3151  m above sea level ).

In the first half of September the sheep are driven back to South Tyrol on the same routes. The arrival in Vernagt or Kurzras is taken as the occasion of a shepherd's festival .

history

That the routes of the shaft drives have been used for at least 6000 years is now considered to be proven. The discovery of the ice mummy " Ötzi " on the Tisenjoch, which is only about 1 km west-northwest of the Niederjoch, can also be seen in this context.

The grazing rights of Schnalser farmers on the alpine pastures of the Rofenberg are confirmed in a document from 1357. From the year 1415 comes a pasture right contract concerning the Niedertal for the period from mid-June to mid-September.

Until the beginning of the twentieth century, cattle were even herded over the passes. Even after the division of Tyrol at the end of the First World War , the tradition of the shaft drive was preserved.

However, the economic importance of shaft drives has declined. Today around 3,500 sheep from South Tyrol are herded into the two Venter valleys, while in 1977 there were twice as many.

In October 2011, the tradition was included in the national register of intangible cultural heritage by the Austrian Commission for UNESCO under the name Transhumance - Sheep Migration in the Ötztal Alps . In addition to the ecological, the main reason given was the cultural significance, which is expressed in cross-border rituals and customs (setting grazing places, going to church together, ...) and a resulting “common regional identity”. The Italian UNESCO does not keep such a directory for the time being.

photos

Shaft drive over the Hochjoch

• 

  Crossing the Rofenache above the confluence of the Hochjochbach.

• 

  Shaft drive on the Hochjochferner (2018)

• 

  Shaft drive on the Hochjoch ( Schöne-Aussicht-Hütte )

• 

  Descent from the Hochjoch

• 

  Descent to Kurzras

• 

  Arrival of the sheep in Kurzras

Shaft drive over the Niederjoch

• 

  Start at the Martin-Busch-Hütte

• 

  A lamb a few days old is being carried

• 

  Below the Niederjoch

• 

  Niederjoch with Similaunhütte

• 

  Ascent in June from the South Tyrolean Tisental

• 

  Sheep pen in Vernagt

literature

• Franz Huter : The manors of the Schnals valley in Untervinschgau , Innsbruck 1926.
• Hans Haid : ways of the sheep . Tyrolia-Verlag , Innsbruck 2008, ISBN 978-3-7022-2901-6 , with DVD-Video.
• Thomas Stoffaneller, Susanne Schaber: Sheep in Tyrol . Tyrolia-Verlag , Innsbruck 2016, ISBN 978-3-7022-3493-5 ; therein the chapter shaft drive , pp. 23–37.

Web links

Commons : Shaft drive over the Ötztal main Alpine ridge  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Sheep overflow from Ötztal to Schnalstal ( Memento from January 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) on tirol.at
• Helmut Luther: Expulsion into summer paradise , Zeit Online, June 2, 2008
• Transhumance - Sheep migration in the Ötztal Alps , UNESCO
• The current dates of the shaft drives are announced on the vent.at and schnalstal.it homepages .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Transhumance - Sheep migration in the Ötztal Alps. Austrian Commission for UNESCO: List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Austria. immaterielleskulturerbe.unesco.at, accessed February 19, 2012.
2. ↑ The shaft drive in the Ötztal , compiled by T. Schmarda ( Memento from September 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive )