Grossglockner. Some History

Before discussing the various climbing routes to the summit of the Grossglockner a little history seems appropriate since this mountain has had a prominent role in the history of Austrian mountaineering. Indeed the Grossglockner was summited as early as 1800 and thus it was the first of all high mountains of Austrian to be climbed. It was more of a research expedition than a modern mountaineering affair. Carefully planned under the protection of Altgraf Franz Xavier von Salm-Reifferscheid, archbishop of Gurk, a team of priests and natural scientists supported by local farmers and craftsmen researched possible routes for years.

Then in 1799 the quests for the summit started in earnest. The expedition team even built a mountain hut designed to shelter the mountaineers during bad weather (keep in mind that this was in the middle of the new ice age so summer used to by colder and and wetter than today). The whole expedition was really a large-scale operation, almost like the large mountaineering expeditions in the Himalaya in the 1920s and 1930s. Equipped with ladders and ropes the teams secured the most difficult and dangerous parts at the Glocknerleitl and near the Kleinglockner (still one of the most accident-prone areas until today). At August, 25, 1799 the team reached the Kleinglockner (3770m), the secondary summit of the Grossglockner and just some dozen meter lower than the real peak. However, the Glocknerscharte, an extremely narrow firn ridge between the Kleinglockner and the highest peak of the Grossglockner denied any success. About one year later (July, 28, 1800) the summit of the Grossglockner was climbed by a second expedition of some 60 people of which five eventually summited. The honorable archbishop himself did never reach the summit peak of the Grossglockner though he eventually climbed the Kleinglockner in later expeditions (1802 and 1806).

The first climb up the Grossglockner was more of a research expedition than a mountaineering endeavor of its own sake. Measuring the temperatures, the elevation and the air pressure were among the many scientific tests which were conducted during this expedition. Though this expedition was initiated and financed by a leading member of the Roman-Catholic Church it was first and foremost a sign of the enlightenment and its new approach towards understanding the forces of nature. Nevertheless it marks the beginning of the mountaineering age in Austria.