HOHE TAUERN NATIONAL PARK
T
Into the wild
he Hohe Tauern National Park is the high point of SalzburgerLand in every sense of the word. The vast tract of mountainous terrain is Austria’s largest nature reserve and the biggest in Central Europe. It encompasses 300 peaks with heights of over 3,000m and several glaciers – the Pasterze is the longest and most spectacular. Towering over everything is Austria’s highest peak, the 3,797m Grossglockner. The park is considered one of the most successful conservation stories in Europe. Uniquely, it is virtually all on private land and it has combined the economic needs of its inhabitants with the
conservation needs of a beautiful landscape and its fragile ecology since its inception in 1981. With a total area of more than 1,800 square metres, the park covers parts of the three provinces of Carinthia, Tyrol and – the largest section in SalzburgerLand. It is dotted with more than 150 lakes left in the mountain corries after the retreat of the last Ice Age. These, combined with the glacial melt and the annual snow-melt, produce a vast torrent of water which pours down the mountains forming stunning waterfalls such as the Krimml Falls (see page 45). This is one of nature’s grandest playgrounds.
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