The Kaisertal (formerly ''Sparchental'') is a striking mountain valley between the mountain chains of the Zahmer and Wilder Kaiser in Austria's

Kaisergebirge The Kaiser Mountains (german: Kaisergebirge, meaning ''Emperor Mountains'') are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps and Eastern Alps. Its main ridges – are the Zahmer Kaiser and south of it the Wilder Kaiser. The mountains are s ...

range in the

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 ...

. In the ravine (''Sparchenklamm'') on the valley floor flows the stream of the

Kaiserbach The Kaiserbach (also called Sparchenbach) is a river of Tyrol, Austria, in the valley Kaisertal in the Kaiser Mountains in the Tyrolean Unterland. It rises at about near the Stripsenjoch saddle and empties in Untere Sparchen, a quarter of Kufstei ...

(''Sparchenbach''), which discharges north of

Kufstein Kufstein (; Central Bavarian: ''Kufstoa'') is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol, the administrative seat of Kufstein District. With a population of about 19,600 it is the second largest Tyrolean town after the state capital Innsbruck. The great ...

into the

Inn (river) , image = UnterinntalWest.JPG , image_caption = Lower Inn valley from Rattenberg castle , source1_location = Swiss Alps (Lägh dal Lunghin) , source1_elevation = , source1_coordinates= , mouth_location = Danube (Passau) , mo ...

. It is home to several, scenic isolated farms (e.g. the ''Pfandlhof'' and ''Veitenhof''). A popular calendar image is St. Anthony's Chapel (''Antoniuskapelle'') on the Kaisertal footpath in the centre of the valley. The Kaisertal lies within the Kaisergebirge Nature Reserve (created in 1963) and, until 1 June 2008, could only be reached on foot. The most frequently used approach route runs from Eichelwang (Ebbs) over ca. 280 steps on the ''Kaiseraufstieg'' into the valley. The Kaisertal was the last inhabited valley 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 ...

without a road link. The cars and motorcycles of the farmers in the Kaisertal were either flown in by

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

or transported in pieces over the ''Kaiseraufstieg''. For years there were discussions about improving access to the Kaisertal. Suggestions included the construction of an inclined lift (''Schrägaufzug'') or an improved form of the existing aerial ropeway (''Materialseilbahn'') from Kufstein. The first cut of the spade for the construction of a road from

Ebbs Ebbs is a municipality in the Kufstein district of Tyrol in Austria. The village is located in the Judicial district of Kufstein and in 2016 had a population of 5,480. Geography Ebbs is located in the Lower Inn Valley near Kufstein, to the eas ...

through a ca. 800 m long tunnel to the Kaisertal took place on 19 May 2006. For reasons of nature conservation the road was only to be used by the inhabitants, firms and emergency vehicles (secured with barriers and keys). The building of the road was only agreed after years of negotiations by the village of Ebbs with the town of Kufstein (the largest land owner in the Kaisertal). For a long time Kufstein was against the road in the Kaisertal for conservation reasons and had offered to upgrade the existing cable car for the inhabitants there so that vehicles could be transported there. This was rejected by the village of Ebbs. On 10 March 2007 the tunnel broke through into the Kaisertal. The development of the tunnel and the road were completed in autumn 2007; work then began on canalisation in the valley. On 31 May 2008 the tunnel was officially opened to traffic.

Points of interest

* Tischof Cave * Klaushütte and Haupttrift-Klause (see also:

)

External links

Naturschutzgebiet Kaisergebirge
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Neue Zürcher Zeitung The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a Swiss, German-language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zürich. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality ne ...

„Leben ohne Straße“
–

Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...

über das Kaisertal
Zufahrt ins Kaisertal eröffnet
(ORF Tirol)
Naturschutzgebiet Kaisertal
{{Coord, 47, 35, 42, N, 12, 13, 40, E, type:landmark_region:AT-7, display=title Valleys of Tyrol (state) Kufstein Kaiser Mountains