Zirler Berg

The Zirler Berg near Zirl in the Austrian federal state of Tyrol is a mountain, high, in the Karwendel Alps, a western part of the Northern Limestone Alps. It is a southern foothill of the Reither Spitze (2,374 m) and is known mainly because the ''Seefelder Straße'' (B 177) on its southern slopes climbs through 388 metres in a distance of less than 4 kilometres from Zirl in the Inn valley to Leithen on the Seefeld Plateau.

Location

The Zirler Berg is on the southeastern extremity of the Seefeld Plateau, which is roughly 1,200 m above sea level and lies between the Wetterstein (north), Karwendel (east) and Mieminger Ranges (west) and drops away to the Inn valley to the south and 600 metres below. The summit of the Zirler lies southeast of Reith and Leithen in the woods of the ''Zirler Wald'', which cover the mountainside down to the '' Tiroler Straße'' (B 171) between Zirl and Telfs.

About 2.5 kilometres north of the Zirler Berg rises the Rauenkopf (2,011 m), which leads to the Reither Spitze (2,374 m) north of that, and about 2.5 kilometres northeast is the Brunstkopf (1,719 m), all peaks within the Erlspitze Group. A tributary of the Inn, the Schlossbach, flows through the gorge of ''Schlossbachklamm'' to the east. Some way to the north of the summit there is a 1637 plague column on the outskirts of Leithen.

Geology

The actual summit of the Zirler Berg and its southern flank facing the Inn valley consists of strata of main dolomite; in the area of the mountain top, however, there are morainic deposits.

Transport

''Zirlerbergstraße''

The southern section of the ''Seefelder Straße'' (B 177), runs up the southern slopes and across the eastern side of the Zirler Berg. This road section is also called the ''Zirlerbergstraße''. The ''Seefelder Straße'' is oriented mainly in a south to north direction and climbs up the mountain from the Inn valley from Zirl (622 m) with a gradient of up to 16% heading for Leithen (1,010 m) and then continues through Reith, Auland and over the Seefeld Saddle (1,185 m) about 4 km (as the crow flies) northwest of the Zirler Berg to Seefeld. Between Zirl and Leithen the road climbs 388 metres in less than 4 km, and continues to climb, albeit less steeply, as it makes its way towards the Seefeld Saddle.

On the southern flank of the Zirler Berg lies the only hairpin on the ''Zirlerbergstraße'' – by the ''Gasthaus Zirlerberg Rast'' at about 818 m – where there are views of the Inn valley.

Between Zirl and Leithen the northern carriageway of the ''Seefelder Straße'' (the uphill carriageway) is closed to caravans with a permitted total weight of over 750 kg and the whole of the road between Zirl and Scharnitz is barred for lorries over 7.5 tonnes with the exception of local lorry traffic. Due to the steep gradient there are several escape lanes between Leithen and Zirl that branch off the downhill carriageway; they runn slightly uphill so that in an emergency, vehicles, especially lorries, can be braked by the gravel roadbed. The gradient also means that bicycles are not permitted on the downhill carriageway; although they are allowed to climb the road, this is not recommended due to the high levels of traffic.

Karwendel Railway

North-northeast of the Zirler Berg a particularly winding section of the Karwendel Railway with many tunnels runs over the Seefeld Saddle roughly parallel to the ''Seefelder Straße''. The line runs from Innsbruck via Seefeld and Mittenwald to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and has several stations or halts including Reith, Seefeld and Scharnitz. East of the mountain the railway enters a wide curve over bridges and through tunnels on the south flank of the Rauenkopf and southwestern side of the Brunstkopf, crossing the Schlossbach.

References

Bundesamt für Eich- und Vermessungswesen (BEV)
Topographic map of Austria
at AMAP online

Geological map of the Republic of Austria
1:50,000; Sheet 117, ''Zirl'' (1992), at opac.geologie.ac.at (pdf; 2.1 MB)

''Verordnungen Nos. 1365'' and ''1366'' über ''Fahrverbote'' auf der ''B177 Seefelder Straße''
in ''Bote für Tirol – Amtsblatt der Behörden, Ämter und Gerichte Tirols'', Sheet 51/188, dated 19 December 2007, at tirol.gv.at (pdf; 128 KB), p. 606

at ''Bundesverband Güterkraftverkehr Logistik und Entsorgung (BGL) e. V.'', Sheet 010-08, dated 13 December 2007, at archiv.vv-suedbaden.de (pdf; 455 KB)

External links

{{Commons category, Zirler Berg

One-thousanders of Austria
Karwendel
Mountains of Tyrol (state)
Mountains of the Alps