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 km
3 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