The Hochalmspitze (3,360

metres above the Adriatic Metres above the Adriatic ( it, Metri sopra l'Adriatico, german: Meter über Adria, Serbo-Croatian: ''Metara iznad Jadrana'') is the vertical datum used in Austria, in the former Yugoslavian states of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Serbia, ...

(11,020 ft)) is located east of

Mallnitz Mallnitz is a municipality in the Spittal an der Drau District in Carinthia, Austria. Geography It is situated in a high valley of the Hohe Tauern mountain range stretching southwards down to Obervellach on the Möll river and separating the ...

in the

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 ...

n state of

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

. It is sometimes called "Tauern Queen" (german: Tauernkönigin) as a counterpart to the "Tauern King", the

Grossglockner The Grossglockner (german: Großglockner ; or just ''Glockner'') is, at 3,798 metres above the Adriatic (12,461 ft), the highest mountain in Austria and the highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass. It is part of the larger Glock ...

Geography

The peak is situated slightly south the main ridge of the

Central Eastern Alps The Central Eastern Alps (german: Zentralalpen or Zentrale Ostalpen), also referred to as Austrian Central Alps (german: Österreichische Zentralalpen) or just Central Alps, comprise the main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacent ...

and the Alpine divide. It actually consists of two pinnacles, the ''Schneeige Hochalmspitze'' and the higher ''Apere'' ("snowless") ''Hochalmspitze'' with the summit cross. It has

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

s on its eastern and southern sides. The neighbouring Großelendkopf peak, at , today counts as a separate mountain. Like most of the High Tauern, the Hochalmspitze massif is formed of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

and

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...

, and many unusual rock formations can be found on its slopes. The mountain lies at the Eastern end of the range. In the northwest, a ridge connects it to Großer

Ankogel The Ankogel (3,252 m) is a mountain in the Ankogel Group in the eastern High Tauern range in Austria. It is the second highest mountain in the group, the Hochalmspitze being higher at 3,360 m. A cable car from Mallnitz Mallnitz is a municipalit ...

, the third highest peak in its group, and to the

Kölnbrein Dam The Kölnbrein Dam is an arch dam in the Hohe Tauern range within Carinthia, Austria. It was constructed between 1971 and 1979 and at high, it is the tallest dam in Austria. The dam's reservoir serves as the primary storage in a three-stage pumpe ...

. In the south, the Mallnitz Ridge leads to the neighbouring

Reisseck Group The Reisseck Group or Reißeck Group (german: Reißeckgruppe) is a small mountain sub-range in the Austrian state of Carinthia. As the southern part of the Ankogel Group, it belongs to the High Tauern range of the Central Eastern Alps. Geography ...

. From the summit, the views stretch as far as the

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

Alps, the

Dolomites The Dolomites ( it, Dolomiti ; Ladin: ''Dolomites''; german: Dolomiten ; vec, Dołomiti : fur, Dolomitis), also known as the Dolomite Mountains, Dolomite Alps or Dolomitic Alps, are a mountain range located in northeastern Italy. They form par ...

and the

Julian Alps The Julian Alps ( sl, Julijske Alpe, it, Alpi Giulie, , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretch from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia. A large pa ...

History

The first official ascent was made in 1859 by the Austrian mountaineer

Paul Grohmann Paul Grohmann (12 June 1838 – 29 July 1908) was an Austrian mountaineer and writer. Biography Grohmann was a pioneer in exploring technically challenging mountains and is thought to have made more first ascents of Eastern Alps summits than any ...

, although letters found in 2010 bring this claim into disrepute, as the mountain may have first been climbed four years earlier. In 1913 a

mountain hut A mountain hut is a building located high in the mountains, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. Mountain huts are usually operated by an Alpine Club or some organization d ...

(''Gießener Hütte'') was erected by the

German and Austrian Alpine Club The German and Austrian Alpine Club (german: Deutscher und Österreichischer Alpenverein, DuÖAV) was a merger of the German, Austrian and German Bohemian Alpine Club that existed from 1873 to 1938. History In 1862 the ''Sektion Austria'' was fou ...

on the southeastern slope at a height of . In the 1970s plans for a glacier

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...

were developed, but finally abandoned in 1988 when the

Austrian Alpine Club The Austrian Alpine Club (german: Österreichischer Alpenverein) has about 573,000 members in 196 sections and is the largest mountaineering organisation in Austria. It is responsible for the upkeep of over 234 alpine huts in Austria and neighbour ...

was able to purchase large parts of the area.

References

Alpine three-thousanders Ankogel Group Mountains of the Alps Mountains of Carinthia (state) {{Carinthia-geo-stub