The Hintertux Glacier (german: Hintertuxer Gletscher) is the tourist name for the glaciers of the Gefrorene-Wand-Kees, also called the Tuxer Ferner, and the nearby Riepenkees at the top of the

Tuxertal The Tuxertal is a valley located in Tyrol, Austria. A side valley of the Zillertal, from which it branches at Mayrhofen, the Tuxertal is about 13 km long and accessible on the Tuxer Straße (Tux Road). From Mayrhofen () to Hintertux (1500&n ...

, a

side valley Side valleys and tributary valleys are valleys whose brooks or rivers flow into greater ones. Upstream, the valleys can be classified in an increasing order which is equivalent to the usual orographic order: the tributaries are ordered from th ...

of the

Zillertal The Ziller Valley (german: Zillertal) is a valley in Tyrol, Austria that is drained by the Ziller River. It is the widest valley south of the Inn Valley (german: Inntal) and lends its name to the Zillertal Alps, the strongly glaciated section of t ...

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

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

. Both glaciers are accessed by gondola and chair lifts and is one of only two ski resorts in the world offering skiing 365 days a year (the other being

Zermatt Zermatt () is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is classified as a town by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO). ...

in Switzerland). At its highest point the ski region reaches a height of in the saddle between the peaks of the

Gefrorene-Wand-Spitzen The Gefrorene-Wand-Spitzen are two summits on the Tux Crest (''Tuxer Kamm''), a mountain chain in the Zillertal Alps, one of the ranges of the central Eastern Alps in the Austrian state of Tyrol. The north summit (''Nordgipfel'') is recorded as 3 ...

. Hintertux glacier is one of the most popular glaciers in Austria. It is open all year round with skiing in the winter, and hiking activities in the summer.

Ice

The ice of the Hintertux Glacier is up to thick at its deepest point. It has a length of about , but this varies annually by up to . As a result, the lifts have to be moved several times a year so that the masts remain vertical. The

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 ...

contains up to about 190 million cubic metres of ice.

Tourism

The Hintertux Glacier offers skiing all year round. Its height means that there are usually good snow conditions, enabling almost all pistes and lifts to be kept open. The glacier skiing region has its own ski school for both beginners and advanced skiers. In addition to the winter sports facilities the Hintertux Glacier offers an all-round view of the Alps from just under 3,250 m. The region is also suitable for

mountaineering Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, a ...

– there are plenty of Alpine huts, some managed all-year round. One of these huts is the Spannagelhaus next to the natural monument of the

Spannagel Cave The Spannagel Cave (german: Spannagelhöhle) is a show cave near Hintertux, in the Zillertal Alps in the Austrian state of Tyrol. Currently about 10 kilometres of cave have been discovered; guided tours enable access to 500 metres of the cave. It ...

, which is over 10 km long and the largest cave system in the

Austrian Central 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 ...

. The cave entrance is immediately next to the Spannagelhaus. A

crevasse A crevasse is a deep crack, that forms in a glacier or ice sheet that can be a few inches across to over 40 feet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pie ...

– the Natural Ice Palace (''Natur Eis Palast'') – can also be viewed. Its entrance is just above the top station on the ''Gletscherbus 3'' lift. Visitors can climb about 25 metres down into the ice using a combination of steps and ladders.Brochure for the crevasse
accessed on 5 January 2011

Lift and cable cars

To transport the large number of tourists on the Hintertux Glacier, three large

gondola lift A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate supp ...

s of the

Funitel A funitel is a type of cableway, generally used to transport skiers, although at least one is used to transport finished cars between different areas of a factory. It differs from a standard gondola lift through the use of two arms attached to tw ...

type have been built: the so-called glacier buses (''Gletscherbusse'') where the gondolas are suspended on two steel cables and are able to carry 24 people each. The third large gondola lift was opened in the 2008/2009 winter season. It is now called the ''Gletscherbus 1'' and runs from the valley station up to the Sommerbergalm. It replaced the older 4-man gondolas that had previously handled the transport of people to the Sommerbergalm along with the 8-man gondola lift that is still running. In order to ensure all-year operations there are 2 cableways in each section of the feeders from the valley station to the Gefrorene Wand. Overall, there are 18 lifts to transport winter sports tourist and other visitors from the Hintertux valley station (''Talstation Hintertux'', 1500 m) up to the glacier. Here are 360 degree panoramas of some of the cable cars "Gletcherbus
at 3033m
an

Gallery

File:Hintertux Ski slopes.JPG, Hintertux Ski slopes File:Hintertux_Hoher_Riffler.jpg, The Hoher Riffler 3231m seen from the Spannagelhaus (Nov 2007) File:Hintertux_Lärmstange_aus_Tal_betrachtet.jpg, View from the valley of the ''Lärmstange'' (Nov 2007) File:Hintertux_schlegeis.jpg, View from the Hintertux Glacier (below the Gefrorenen Wand) looking south (Schlegeis) (Feb 2007)

External links

Homepage of the Hintertux Glacier

References

{{Coord, 47, 3, 55, N, 11, 40, 45, E, type:landmark_region:AT-7, display=title Glaciers of Austria Glaciers of the Alps GHintertux Glacier Ski areas in Austria Schwaz District Zillertal Alps Landforms of Tyrol (state) Tourist attractions in Tyrol (state)