The Gleirsch-Halltal Chain (german: Gleirsch-Halltal-Kette) or Gleirsch-Halltal Range is a

mountain chain A mountain chain is a row of high mountain summits, a linear sequence of interconnected or related mountains,Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, p 87. . or a contiguous ridge of mountains within a larger m ...

in the

Karwendel The Karwendel is the largest mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps. The major part belongs to the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, while the adjacent area in the north is part of Bavaria, Germany. Four mountain chain, chain ...

in the

Northern Limestone Alps The Northern Limestone Alps (german: Nördliche Kalkalpen), also called the Northern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps north of the Central Eastern Alps located in Austria and the adjacent Bavarian lands of southeastern Germany. ...

. It follows to the south of the

Hinterautal-Vomper Chain The Hinterautal-Vomper Chain (german: Hinterautal-Vomper-Kette), also called the main chain of the Karwendel (''Karwendelhauptkette''), is the longest mountain chain in the Karwendel Alps in Austria. It has numerous peaks that reach heights of 2, ...

, the longest mountain chain in the Karwendel, and is almost as big as it. South of the Stempeljochspitze on the other side of the ''Stempeljoch'' saddle () it is joined to the

Nordkette The Nordkette, also variously called the North Chain, Northern Range, rarely the Inn Valley Range or Inn Valley Chain (''Inntalkette''), is a range of mountains just north of the city of Innsbruck in Austria. It is the southernmost of the four g ...

. The name of the range is derived from the two valleys: the ''Gleirschtal'' to the west and southwest and the

Halltal Halltal is a former municipality in the district of Bruck-Mürzzuschlag in Styria, Austria. Since the 2015 Styria municipal structural reform, it is part of the municipality Mariazell Mariazell ( Central Bavarian: ''Mariazöö'') is an Austria ...

to the southeast. Its highest summit is the Großer Bettelwurf (), which towers 2,200 metres over the

Inn valley The Inn ( la, Aenus; rm, En) is a river in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. The river is long. It is a right tributary of the Danube and it is the third largest tributary of the Danube by discharge. The highest point of its drainage basin is ...

. Other well known peaks are its two "cornerstones". First, the ''Lafatscher Joch'' (), which forms the only crossing from the

Hinterau valley The Hinterau valley (Rear Meadow Valley, German: ''Hinterautal'') is a valley crossing the Karwendel range from east to west. The Isar has its official source in the Hinterau valley. The valley stretches from its western end at Scharnitz Sc ...

to the

: the Speckkarspitze, the Kleiner Lafatscher with the famous Verschneidung and the Großer Lafatscher. From

Scharnitz Scharnitz is a municipality in the district of Innsbruck-Land in the Austrian state of Tyrol located north of Innsbruck and from Seefeld in Tirol on the German border. It is one of the largest municipalities and has 10 parts: Au, Eisack, Gieße ...

the western cornerstone of the chain, the Hoher Gleirsch, may easily be climbed. The summits in the centre section of the Gleirsch-Halltal Chain between Möslalm and the Pfeishütte (Jägerkarspitzen, Praxmarerkarspitzen, Kaskarspitze, Sonntagkarspitze, Hintere Bachofenspitze) can only be reached with difficulty, on sometimes trackless routes requiring some climbing and not always on firm rock. The Gleirsch-Halltal Chain has steep rock faces towards the north, typical of the four great Karwendel chains, which in places drop for several hundred metres. All noteworthy peaks are made of

Wetterstein limestone The Wetterstein Formation is a regional geologic formation of the Northern Limestone Alps and Western Carpathians extending from southern Bavaria, Germany in the west, through northern Austria to northern Hungary and western Slovakia in the east. ...

, which was predominantly formed in the Middle

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...

s and areas of coral reef. Only the far eastern ''Walder Joch'' () is built of

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

limestons and

main dolomite Main Dolomite (german: Hauptdolomit, hu, Fődolomit, it, Dolomia Principale) is a lithostratigraphic unit in the Alps of Europe. Formation was defined by K.W. Gümbel in 1857. Middle to Late Triassic sedimentary record in the Alpine realm is ...

. Important peaks (in sequence from west to east) * Hoher Gleirsch () *Oberer Sagkopf () *Großer Katzenkopf () *Äußere Riegelkarspitze () *Innere Riegelkarspitze () * Mittlere Jägerkarspitze () *Hinterödkopf () *Jägerkarlspitze () * Westliche Praxmarerkarspitze () * Östliche Praxmarerkarspitze () * Kaskarspitze () * Sonntagkarspitze () * Hintere Bachofenspitze () *Vordere Bachofenspitze () * Rosskopf () * Stempeljochspitze () * Großer Lafatscher () * Kleiner Lafatscher () * Speckkarspitze () *Signalkopf () * Kleiner Bettelwurf () * Großer Bettelwurf () * Hohe Fürleg () * Hundskopf () *Walder Joch ()

External links

* {{authority control Mountain ranges of the Alps Mountain ranges of Tyrol (state) Karwendel Innsbruck