Ennstal Alps

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The high door in Gesäuse from the east, in the foreground the Hesshütte

The Ennstaler Alps are a mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps in the Eastern Alps. Your southern part but geologically attributed to the greywacke zone.

The mountain range is situated mostly in the Austrian province of Styria, only a small part in the northwest is located in Upper Austria. The most famous landscape in the Alps is the Ennstaler Gesäuse, an impressive gorge cut through the limestone mountains of the Enns. Its highest peak is the high door ( 2369 m above sea level. A. ).

Adjacent Mountain Ranges

The Ennstaler Alps border the following other subgroups of the Alps:

• Upper Austrian Alps ( in the north)
• Ybbstaler Alps (north-east )
• High Schwab ( in the east)
• Lavanttaler Alps ( in the southeast )
• Seckauer Tauern ( to the south)
• Rottenmanner and Wölzer Tauern ( to the southwest )
• Dead Mountains ( to the west)

Topography

The Ennstaler Alps are bounded by:

• The line Liezen Pyhrnpass - Windischgarsten in the West
• The Hengstpass and the Laussabach in the North
• Enns (from Altenmarkt bei Sankt Gallen to Hieflau ) Erzbach and Vordernberger Bach in the East
• Mur (from Leoben to St. Michael in Upper Styria), Liesing and Paltental in the south

The following mountain groups are part of the Ennstaler Alps:

• Hallermauern ( Highest peak: Big Pyhrgas, 2,244 m)
• Gesäuseberge with Buchstein group ( 2,224 m), rich stone group ( 2,251 m) and Hochtorgruppe ( Hochtor, 2,369 m ) and the Lugauer ( 2,217 m).
• Eisenerzer Alps ( Eisenerzer Hory 2,165 m) with the upstream mountain of sticks Reiting ( with the Gößeck as the main peak, 2,214 m) in the south and the Kaiser Shield ( 2,105 m) in the north.

The mountain range is broken in the northern part of the Enns. This section of the valley is called " Gesäuse ". The valley is here accompanied by the only road and rail lines that run through the Ennstaler Alps.

The settlement is not limited to the Gesäuse with the main towns Admont, Hieflau and Großreifling; some mountain valleys are populated ( Radmer, John Bach, St. Gallen). In the limiting valleys are the towns of Leoben and Liezen and iron ore.

Geology and origin

The Ennstaler Alps consist of two very different built-up sections: The northern part ( Haller walls and Gesäuseberge ) are part of the Northern Limestone Alps and therefore predominantly composed of limestone. The Eisenerzer Alps belong mostly to the greywacke zone, which has its greatest width here. Accordingly, here also many iron ore deposits are found ( for iron ore and Radmer ).

Part Massive and trails

Eisenerzer Alps

The Eisenerzer Alps with its main summit, the Eisenerzer rich stone ( 2,165 m ) form the southern part of the Ennstaler Alps. Your main ridge runs west-east, but the upstream massifs of the emperor shield ( 2,085 m ) and the Gößeck ( 2,215 m) give him a rhombic outline.

Gesäuse

The Gesäuse with its main summit Hochtor forms the northeastern part of the Ennstaler Alps.

Hallermauern

The Haller walls with its main summit, the Great Pyhrgas form the northwestern part of the Ennstaler Alps.

Fern-/Weitwanderwege

The Via Alpina, a cross-border long-distance trail with five sub- paths through the whole Alps, also passes through the Ennstaler Alps.

The Purple Trail Via Alpina runs with two stages through the Alps Ennstaler as follows:

• Stage A24 runs from shoots to Admont on the Kaiserau
• Stage A25 runs from Admont to Spital am Pyhrn about the Rohrauerhaus

Three of the ten Austrian long-distance hiking trails lead through the Ennstaler Alps. These are the

• North Alpine Weitwanderweg 01 ( Kalkalpenweg )
• North Forest Ridge and north-south distance trail 05
• Eisenwurzenweg 08