The Pirchkogel (or also Pirchkogl) is a mountain, 2,828 m, in the

Stubai Alps The Stubai Alps (in German ''Stubaier Alpen'') is a mountain range in the Central Eastern Alps of Europe. It derives its name from the Stubaital valley to its east and is located southwest of Innsbruck, Austria. Several peaks form the border betwee ...

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 ...

.''Gossenköllesee''
University of Innsbruck, retrieved 31 July 2014. It is a good viewing mountain.

Geography

The Pirchkogel rises north of

Kühtai Kühtai is a winter sports village in the Stubai Alps on the Kühtai Saddle between the Nedertal valley in the west and the Sellrain valley in the east. It is part of the municipality of Silz, in the district of Imst, in the Austrian state of Ty ...

(2,017 m) and the Dortmunder Hut (1,948 m) immediately above the road over the

Kühtai Saddle Kühtai Saddle (german: Kühtaisattel) (el. ) is a mountain pass in the Austrian Alps in the ''States of Austria, Bundesland'' of Tyrol (state), Tyrol. It connects the Ötztal, Ötz river valley from Oetz with Gries im Sellrain. The road from O ...

. Together with the rock faces of the ''Irzwänden'' (2,757 m) to the east and the twin peaks of the ''Grießkogel'' (''Vorderer'' 2,666 m and ''Hinterer Grießkogel'' 2,673 m), its

arête An arête ( ) is a narrow ridge of rock which separates two valleys. It is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys. Arêtes can also form when two glacial cirques erode headwards towards one another, although frequen ...

s surround a plateau known as the ''Schwarzmoos'' ("Black Moss").

Biology

Here there are four little mountain lakes, including the Gossenköllesee at 2,413 m, up to which the ski region of Kühtai extends from the valley. Until 2014, the smallest Austrian

UNESCO biosphere reserve Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments. MAB's work engag ...

(85 ha) was established in the area around the lakes where long term research into water ecology was carried out by the University of Innsbruck. Due to its small size and the fact that the authorities did not divide it into the core, buffer and development zones this region, one of the first biosphere reserves in Austria in 1977, did not fulfil the new criteria and the Austrian UNESCO Commission revoked its status. water monitoring and research, which had begun as early as 1933, continue however at the shoreside research station on the 9-metre-deep Gossenköllesee. Research is conducted into the changing growing conditions of the high alpine landscape as a consequence of the climatic changes of the last 800 years. The sediment tests also reflect the high

eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

arising from intensive grazing of sheep and cattle near the lake beginning in the Middle Ages from 1670 (Schwaighof), the changing minerals on the lakebed indicate the stocking of trout ( ''Salmo trutta morpho fario'') since that time too.Christian Kamenik, Karin A. Koinig, Roland Schmidt, Peter G. Appleby, John A. Dearing, Andrea Lami, Roy Thompson, Roland Psenner: ''Eight hundred years of environmental changes in a high Alpine lake (Gossenköllesee, Tyrol) inferred from sediment records''. In: Journal of Limnology 59, Suppl. 1 (2000), pp. 43–52,

Ascent

Several paths lead to the summit of the Pirchkogel: the path via the northwest ridge, also called the ''Schafjoch'', can be reached from Silz via the Silzer Alm or from the Ochsengarten. From

Stams Stams is a municipality in Imst District, in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is chiefly known for Cistercian Stams Abbey (''Stift Stams''), founded in 1273 by Count Meinhard II of Gorizia-Tyrol and his wife.Chizzali. ''Tyrol: Impressions of Tyrol.' ...

a mountain path runs up the ''Schneetal'' valley northeast of the summit. The most popular and shortest route is the southeast path from Kühtai. All these routes are also popular

ski tour Ski touring is skiing in the backcountry on unmarked or unpatrolled areas. Touring is typically done off-piste and outside of ski resorts, and may extend over a period of more than one day. It is similar to backcountry skiing but excludes the u ...

s in winter. There is no

summit cross A summit cross (german: Gipfelkreuz) is a cross on the summit of a mountain or hill that marks the top. Often there will be a summit register (''Gipfelbuch'') at the cross, either in a container or at least a weatherproof case. Various other form ...

on the Pirchkogel, only a signal post. The cross is a little lower down at Marlstein, where it may be seen from the west and north.

References

Literature

External links

{{Commons category Mountains of the Alps Two-thousanders of Austria Mountains of Tyrol (state) Stubai Alps