King of the Eastern Alps and highest mountain of Austria – the almost 3,800 m high Grossglockner is known far beyond the borders
With its 3,798 m, the Grossglockner is the highest mountain of Austria. East of the Ortles Group in South Tyrol it is even the highest mountain of the Alps. In 1800 it was climbed for the first time and has been a famous destination among alpinists since then.
The normal way starts at the Erzherzog-Johann-Hütte (3,454 m a.s.l.) via the east side and the Kleinglockner mountain. The hard crystalline rock of the pyramidal mountain is well-suited for climbing. The view from the summit, here at the border between East Tyrol and Carinthia, is simply awesome and stretches more than 200 km in good weather conditions: in the north until Regensburg and the Bohemian Forest, until the Ortles Group in the west, until the Po Valley in the south and the Totes Gebirge Mountain Range in the east.
Important villages around the “black mountain” are Kals am Grossglockner in East Tyrol and Heiligenblut in Carinthia, both municipalities in the High Tauern National Park. An impressive view on the gigantic mountain can be enjoyed from the Glockner High Alpine Road, a famous scenic road (toll).
