Schlatenkees
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The Schlatenkees is a glacier in the
Venediger Group The Venediger Group (german: Venedigergruppe) is a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps. Together with the Granatspitze Group, the Glockner Group, the Goldberg Group, and the Ankogel Group, it forms the main ridge of the High Tauern. The hi ...
that is in the core zone of the High Tauern National Park, east of the
Großvenediger Großvenediger () is the main peak of the Venediger Group within the Hohe Tauern mountain range, on the border of the Austrian state of Tyrol (East Tyrol) with Salzburg. It is generally considered to be Austria's fourth highest mountain (although ...
. It is in the
East Tyrol East Tyrol, occasionally East Tirol (german: Osttirol), is an exclave of the Austrian state of Tyrol, separated from the main North Tyrol part by the short common border of Salzburg and Italian South Tyrol (''Südtirol'', it, Alto Adige). It i ...
ean community of
Matrei in Osttirol Matrei in Osttirol is a market town in the Lienz District in the Austrian state of Tyrol (East Tyrol). It is situated about north of Lienz within the Hohe Tauern mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps. Its municipal area comprises parts of th ...
. With an area of around , the Schlatenkees is the largest valley glacier in East Tyrol and, after the Obersulzbachkees, the second largest glacier in the Venediger group. The exposure is mainly to the east, in the highest area also to the south-east.


Description

The relatively flat
Accumulation zone On a glacier, the accumulation zone is the area above the firn line, where snowfall accumulates and exceeds the losses from ablation, (melting, evaporation, and sublimation). The annual equilibrium line separates the accumulation and ablation z ...
of the glacier is known as the Upper Keesboden. It is framed by the highest peaks of the Venediger group:
Großvenediger Großvenediger () is the main peak of the Venediger Group within the Hohe Tauern mountain range, on the border of the Austrian state of Tyrol (East Tyrol) with Salzburg. It is generally considered to be Austria's fourth highest mountain (although ...
: , Kleinvenediger: , Hohes Aderl: , Rainerhorn: , Schwarze Wand: and Hoher Zaun: . The glacier flows over a mighty
icefall An icefall is a portion of certain glaciers characterized by relatively rapid flow and chaotic crevassed surface, caused in part by gravity. The term ''icefall'' is formed by analogy with the word ''waterfall'', which is a similar phenomenon of ...
to the Lower Keesboden, a flat area at an altitude of about . A partial glacier flows into the Lower Keesboden from the south, coming from the Kristallwand. The small jagged end of the
tongue The tongue is a muscular organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for mastication and swallowing as part of the digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste. The tongue's upper surface (dorsum) is covered by taste ...
is at an altitude of , above a steep step. The northern part of the tongue is largely free of debris, while the southern end of the tongue, which forms the end of the stream coming from the Kristallwand, is completely covered by debris. At the end of the tongue there was a clearly visible glacier gate from which the Schlatenbach exited until the summer of 2014. The Schlatenbach joins the Vilhabenbach in the valley floor of the Gschlösstal, and these form the Gschlössbach, which drains into the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
via the Tauernbach, Isel, Drau and
Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...
. The glacier gate collapsed in the late summer of 2014, there has been no glacier front since 2017. The Lower Keesboden is furrowed and rich in crevices, instead of the former arch, large, deep funnels show up. For this reason, a warning is issued against stepping on the ice - the edges can be brittle and there are often wide gaps in the edge towards the rock. Slipping on the rubble-strewn rock carries the risk of slipping under the ice sheet. Between 1988 and 2018 the Schlatenkees retreated by , two thirds of this after 2005 and from 2014 to 2017 alone by . In 2019, the retreat was almost . In 2019, the retreat was almost . At the last peak of the glacier around 1850, the glacier still flowed over the steep step below the current end of the tongue down to the floor of the Gschlöss valley. It completely crossed the valley and reached up on the opposite slope. The end of the tongue was at an altitude of and was the deepest glacier end in the entire Eastern Alps. Since then, the glacier has continuously shrunk apart from brief interruptions. The Innergschlöß glacier path was built in 1978 in an area that was then still covered by the glacier, now on the slope below the glacier, .


Gallery


References


Sources

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Further reading

*Alpenvereinskarte Blatt 36, 1:25.000, ''Venedigergruppe.'' {{DEFAULTSORT: Glaciers of Austria Venediger Group Glaciers of the Alps Geography of East Tyrol