The Kellenspitze, often also called the ''Kellespitze'' or ''Köllenspitze'', at is the highest peak in the

Tannheim Mountains The Tannheim Mountains 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 ...

. Originally the

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

was known locally as the ''Metzenarsch'', but when in 1854 Marie Frederica of Prussia visited the hunting lodge on the

Tegelberg Tegelberg is a mountain of Bavaria, Germany. It is a part of the Ammergau Alps. The nearest town is Füssen. Neuschwanstein Castle and Hohenschwangau Castle are about 2 km away. The Tegelberg has been a hang gliding area since the 1970s and ...

and was having the surrounding peaks pointed out, they called it after ''In der Kelle'', the name of a strip of land at the foot of the mountain, because its original name referred to a ''Matz'', in other words a

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

, and seemed inappropriate.

Surrounding area

The summit lies just over 2 kilometres

as the crow flies __NOTOC__ The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points, rather similar to "in a beeline". This meaning is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliv ...

northeast of

Nesselwängle Nesselwängle is a municipality in the district of Reutte in the Austrian state of Tyrol. Geography Nesselwängle lies at the entrance to the Tannheim Valley The Tannheimer Tal ("Tannheim valley") is a high valley, at an elevation of about 1 ...

and 7 kilometres west of

Reutte Reutte (; Swabian: ) is a market town in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative center of the Reutte district (''Districts of Austria''). Reutte is located on the Lech, and has a population of 6704 (as of 2018). Neighbouring munic ...

. To the north is the valley of ''Raintal'' and, to the south, the start of the

Tannheimer Tal The Tannheimer Tal ("Tannheim valley") is a high valley, at an elevation of about 1,100 metres, in the Tannheim Mountains, which are part of the Allgäu Alps in the Austrian state of Tyrol ( county of Reutte).It is a left sided tributary to th ...

. Nearby peaks are: to the south the Hahnenkamm (1,940 m), to the east the Gehrenspitze (2,163 m) and to the west the Gimpel (2,176 m) and the Rote Flüh (2,111 m).

Geology

The Tannheim Mountains are part of 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. ...

, whose folding began during the Alpide orogeny in the

Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eight ...

about 140 million years ago and has not quite finished even today. In the wake of this mountain folding various nappes (''Decken'') of

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

(parts of the

earth's crust Earth's crust is Earth's thin outer shell of rock, referring to less than 1% of Earth's radius and volume. It is the top component of the lithosphere, a division of Earth's layers that includes the crust and the upper part of the mantle. The ...

broken off from the subsurface and pushed over one another) were stacked up and reach the surface as the Lechtal Nappe (''Lechtaler Decke'') in the area of the Kellenspitze. The summit and northern mountainside consist 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. ...

, whilst the southern flank comprises soft

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part o ...

of the so-called Partnach beds . The rock of the Kellenspitze is very crumbly in places and relatively unattractive to climbers as a result.

Bases and ascent

The

normal route A normal route or normal way (french: voie normale; german: Normalweg) is the most frequently used route for ascending and descending a mountain peak. It is usually the simplest route. Overview In the Alps, routes are classed in the following way ...

for the easiest ascent of the Kellenspitze runs up the northwestern mountainside from the col of ''Nesselwängler Scharte''. The base for this route is the Tannheimer Hut at 1,713 metres. From the hut the ascent heads steeply uphill to the north across the scree slopes of the ''Gimpelkar''

cirque A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform ...

to the col, then right and upwards requiring climbing at

UIAA grade In rock climbing, mountaineering, and other climbing disciplines, climbers give a grade to a climbing route or boulder problem, intended to describe concisely the difficulty and danger of climbing it. Different types of climbing (such as sport ...

I and, in places II. There are also short sections of cable protection. According to the literature this approach takes a good 2 hours to reach the top. From the opposite side, a route runs from the

Otto Mayr Hut Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded f ...

in the north up to the same col, taking a good four hours to the top of the Kellenspitze.Dieter Seibert: ''Allgäuer Alpen Alpin, Alpenvereinsführer''. Munich, 2004, pp. 243 f., Rz 1052 ff.

Literature and maps

*Dieter Seibert: ''Allgäuer Alpen Alpin'',

Alpine Club Guide The ''Alpine Club Guides'' (german: Alpenvereinsführer, commonly shortened to ''AV Führer'' or ''AVF'') are the standard series of Alpine guides that cover all the important mountain groups in the Eastern Alps. They are produced jointly by the Ge ...

. Munich,

Bergverlag Rother Bergverlag Rother is a German publisher with its headquarters in Oberhaching, Upper Bavaria. Since 1950 the company, that formerly went under the name of ''Bergverlag Rudolf Rother'', has published the Alpine Club Guides in cooperation with the Ge ...

, 2004. *Raimund von Klebelsberg: ''Geologie von Tirol'', Berlin, 1935 *Freytag & Berndt: walking map 1:50,000 series, Sheet WK 352, ''Ehrwald, Lermoos, Reutte, Tannheimer Tal''

References

External links

*{{Commons category-inline, Köllenspitze, Kellenspitze Two-thousanders of Austria Mountains of Tyrol (state) Mountains of the Alps Allgäu Alps