The Birnlücke () is the border pass at the western end of the

Hohe Tauern The High Tauern (pl.; german: Hohe Tauern, it, Alti Tauri) are a mountain range on the main chain of the Central Eastern Alps, comprising the highest peaks east of the Brenner Pass. The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian states of S ...

mountains in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, between the

Venediger Group The Venediger Group (german: Venedigergruppe) is a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps. Together with the Granatspitze Group, the Glockner Group, the Goldberg Group, and the Ankogel Group, it forms the main ridge of the High Tauern. The hig ...

and the adjoining

Zillertal Alps The Zillertal Alps ( it, Alpi Aurine; german: Zillertaler Alpen) are a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps on the border of Austria and Italy. Name The range is named after the Zillertal (Ziller river valley) on its north. Geography Th ...

. The border between Austria and Italy has run over the pass since 1919. The pass forms the border between the Austrian state of

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

and the Italian province of

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

, the valleys of the

Krimmler Achental The Krimmler Ache is a river in the Pinzgau region of the Austrian state of Land Salzburg, Salzburg, a right tributary of the Salzach at , Wald im Pinzgau. Its valley (the ) forms the boundary between the Zillertal Alps in the west and the Venedi ...

and

Ahrntal Ahrntal (; it, Valle Aurina ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about northeast of the city of Bolzano (''Bozen''), on the border with Austria. Geography Ahrntal borders the following municipalities: Mühl ...

, and the Rieserferner-Ahrn Nature Park and Hohe Tauern National Park. Until the

Schengen Agreement The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...

there used to be a regular border checkpoint at Krimmler Tauern (2,634 m). Not far south of the border crossing at is the Birnlücken Hut (''Rifugio Tridentina''). It was built in 1900 and named after the pass.

Name

The name ''Birnlücke'' is a corruption of the old spelling. As late as 1888 the pass was called ''Pyrlücke'', after the old names for the stream, the ''Pirra'' or ''Birlbac''h, in the Ahrn valley.Bergnamen in Österreich von Heinz Dieter Pohl
/ref> The Italian name is ''Forcella del Picco''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birnlucke Mountain passes of the Alps Mountain passes of Salzburg (state) Mountain passes of Italy Venediger Group Zillertal Alps Zell am See District Mountain passes of South Tyrol Austria–Italy border crossings Rieserferner-Ahrn Nature Park

Name

See also

References