Umhausen is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

Imst district The Bezirk Imst is an administrative district (''Bezirk'') in Tyrol, Austria. It borders the district Reutte in the north, as well as sharing a small border with Bavaria (Germany). It borders the district Innsbruck-Land in the east, South Tyrol ...

of state of

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

in western

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. It and is located 17 km southeast of

Imst Imst (; Southern Bavarian: ''Imscht'') is a town in the Austrian federal state of Tyrol. It lies on the River Inn in western Tyrol, some west of Innsbruck and at an altitude of above sea level. With a current population (2018) of 10,504, Imst ...

at the

Ötztaler Ache The Ötztaler Ache is a river in the district of Imst, Tyrol state of Austria. It is a right tributary of the Inn. It flows through the Ötztal valley, a southern branch the Inntal. Including its source rivers and , it is long. The Rofenache is ...

in the

Ötztal The Ötztal () is an alpine valley located in Tyrol, Austria. The Ötztaler Ache river flows through the valley in a northern direction. The Ötztal separates the Stubai Alps in the east from the Ötztal Alps in the west. The valley is long. The ...

. It has 3078 inhabitants.

Geography

The municipality consists of six villages: *Umhausen *Tumpen *Köfels *Farst *Niederthai *Östen Umhausen is located at the intersection of the

Stubai Alps The Stubai Alps (, ) 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 between Austria and Italy. The ...

and the

Ötztal Alps The Ötztal Alps (, ) are a mountain range in the Central Eastern Alps, in the Tyrol (state), State of Tyrol in western Austria and the South Tyrol, Province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. Geography The Ötztal Alps are arrayed at the head of ...

. The lowest point is in Tumpen (920m), the highest peak of the municipality is the Strahlkogel, at . Its name comes from its great, white, light-reflecting,

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

layers, which allegedly cause the mountain to "radiate" (''strahlen''). It has the shape of a well-proportioned, steep and pointed pyramid. Ascending the Strahlkogel is difficult and it is thus only rarely visited, unlike the neighbouring 3,287-metre-high Breiter Grieskogel.

Climate

Economy

Umhausen was once a centre for cultivation of

flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. In 2022, France produced 75% of t ...

. Today the main source of income is tourism. In the area of the community lies the tallest

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

of Tyrol at 150 metres of height. The economy in Umhausen is a bit smaller than the economy in Längenfeld. It is supported by local craft enterprises. Moreover, the Vivea Gesundheitshotel Umhausen opened in 2011, which plays a large role in the local economy.

Landslide

The Köfels landslide was a gigantic landslide, known as a

sturzstrom A Sturzstrom (from the German '' Sturz'' (fall) and ''Strom'' (stream, flow)) or ''rock avalanche'' is a large landslide, consisting of soil and rock. It travels a great horizontal distance (as much as 20 or 30 times), compared to its initial ve ...

, that occurred in the Ötz valley 9800±100 years ago according to radiocarbon dating of trees buried by the event.Ivy-Ochs S, Heuberger H, Kubik PW, Kerschner H, Bonani G, Frank M, and Schlüchter C. (1998). The age of the Köfels event — relative, ¹⁴C, and cosmogenic isotope dating of an early Holocene landslide in the central Alps (Tyrol, Austria). ''Zeitschrift für Gletscherkunde und Glazialgeologie'', (34):57–70. It involved a 2.5 km horizontal displacement and 800 m vertical displacement of 3.2 km³ of rock and mud along the Ötz valley floor, making it the third largest known sturzstrom.Sørensena, SA and Bauer, B (15 August 2003). On the dynamics of the Köfels sturzstrom. ''

Geomorphology Geomorphology () is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features generated by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or near Earth's surface. Geomorphologists seek to understand wh ...

'', 54(1–2):11–19.Prager C, Zangerl C, Patzelt G, and Brandner R (2008). Age distribution of fossil landslides in the Tyrol (Austria) and its surrounding areas. '' Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences'', 8:377–407.

Population

Hedwig von Trapp / The Sound of Music

Hedwig von Trapp, a member of the singing von Trapp family, lived and worked as a music teacher in Farst, above Umhausen. She moved there in the 1960s to treat her asthma. The school building is still present.

References

External links

Information on Umhausen
{{Authority control Landslides in Europe Natural disasters in Austria Cities and towns in Imst District