Hinterer Bratschenkopf
Encyclopedia
The Hinterer Bratschenkopf is a mountain in the Glockner Group
Glockner Group
The Glockner Group is a sub-group of the Austrian Central Alps in the Eastern Alps, and is located in the centre section of the High Tauern on the main chain of the Alps....

 on the Fusch-Kaprun ridge (Fuscher / Kapruner Kamm) in the High Tauern, a high mountain range in the Austrian Central Alps. According to the listed sources it is 3,412 metres high, but the Austrian Federal Office for Metrology and Survey
Federal Office for Metrology and Survey
The Federal Office for Metrology and Survey or BEV is the body responsible in Austria for official surveying, geo-information and weights and measures . It belongs to the Ministry for the Economy, Family and Youth. Its headquarters is in Vienna and it has 67 branches spread across all the Austrian...

 gives its height as 3,413 metres. The mountain lies in the Austrian state of Salzburg. It appears from the north, east and south as a gently curved firn
Firn
Firn is partially-compacted névé, a type of snow that has been left over from past seasons and has been recrystallized into a substance denser than névé. It is ice that is at an intermediate stage between snow and glacial ice...

 summit, but from the west it has a mighty, 1,400 metre high and 40 to 60° rock face. A steep, 500 metre long knife-edge ridge bears away from the mountaintop to the north. Due to its close proximity to the Heinrich Schwaiger Haus, the summit is a popular viewing point. The peak was first climbed on 18 September 1869 by the Munich Alpinist
Alpinist
Alpinist is a quarterly American magazine focused on mountaineering ascents worldwide. It was originally published out of Jackson, Wyoming and was founded in 2002...

, Karl Hofmann, the Prague businessman, Johann Stüdl, and mountain guide
Mountain guide
Mountain guides are specially trained and experienced mountaineers and professionals who are generally certified by an association. They are considered experts in mountaineering.-Skills:Their skills usually include climbing, skiing and hiking...

s Thomas Groder and Josef Schnell from Kals am Großglockner
Kals am Großglockner
Kals am Großglockner is a town in the district of Lienz in the exclave of East Tirol in Tyrol, Austria.- Geography :Kals is located in northern East Tirol, near the border to Salzburg and Carinthia...

.

Origin of the name

The name "Hinterer Bratschenkopf" was given to the mountain in 1871 on the recommendation of the Imperial and Royal Austrian survey officer, Major Joseph Pelikan, of Plauenwald. On the old Tauern map by Franz Keil dating to 1855 the peak was still described as the Glockerin, which went back to Karl Sonklar and Johann Stüdl, whilst the peak known today as the Klockerin was still unknown then.

The names of the surrounding mountains were rather confusing. "Kleiner", "Mittlerer", "Großer" and "Vorderer Bärenkopf" (i.e. "Little", "Middle", "Great" and "Fore") were designations arbitrarily given to different peaks and, in some cases, the same peaks. Not until the 1891 Alpine Club map
Alpine Club map
Alpine Club maps are specially detailed maps for summer and winter mountain climbers . They are predominantly published at a scale of 1:25.000, although some individual sheets have scales of 1:50.000 and 1:100.000....

 was issued was there an authoritative allocation of names, that gave a recognised schema for Alpinists and reduced the then common difficulties of orientation and mistakes in climbing and surveying.

Surrounding area

The Hinterer Bratschenkopf is ringed by glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

s. To the northeast lies the little Kaindlkees glacier, to the east is the accumuluation zone of the Teufelsmühlkees which reaches to just below the summit. To the south lies the Bratschenkopfkees and, in the west, below the mighty West Face, the (Untere) Klockerinkees. Important neighbouring peaks are:
  • the Vordere Bratschenkopf (3,401 m) on the Southeast Ridge (Südostgrat) separated by the notch of the Bratschenkopfscharte (3,383 m)
  • the Klockerin (3,425 m) on the other side of the 3,295 metre high ice divide
    Ice divide
    An ice divide is the boundary on an ice sheet, ice cap or glacier separating opposing flow directions of ice, analogous to a water divide. Such ice divides are important for geochronology investigations using ice cores, because such coring is typically made on top of a dome of an ice sheet to avoid...

     between the Bratschenkopfkees and Oberes Klockerinkees.


The highest mountain in the area, the Großes Wiesbachhorn
Großes Wiesbachhorn
The Großes Wiesbachhorn is a mountain in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria and, at , is the third-highest peak of the Hohe Tauern range....

 (3,564 m), lies away to the northeast. The nearest significant settlement is Fusch an der Großglocknerstraße
Fusch an der Großglocknerstraße
Fusch an der Großglocknerstraße is a municipality, at the foot of Grossglockner mountain, in the district of Zell am See , in the state of Salzburg in Austria. The Fusch valley lies north of the main chain of the Alps. The population is 697...

, just under 11 kilometres to the north as the crow flies
As the crow flies
"As the crow flies" or beelining is an idiom for the shortest route between two points; the geodesic distance.An example is the great-circle distance between Key West and Pensacola, at either end of the U.S...

. To the northwest the Hinterer Bratschenkopf falls steeply to the dam of the Mooserboden.

Bases and tours

The trail blazed by the Alpinists in 1869 runs from the Kaprun side, i.e. from the north, over the glacier saddle with the misleading name of Wielingerscharte ("Wielingen Notch") to the top. This route is still the standard one used today. The Hinterer Bratschenkopf can only be reached as part of a high Alpine tour, and appropriate equipment and glacier experience are necessary. The Heinrich Schwaiger Haus (2,802 m) acts as a base and lies to the east above the Mooserboden valley. From the hut the trail runs in a southeasterly direction up to the Oberen Fochezkopf (3,159 m), over the firn-covered Kaindlgrat ridge on the upper Wielingerkees glacier, past the foot of the West Ridge of the Wiesbachhorn (Wiesbachhorn-Westgrat), then southwards over the so-called Wielingerscharte to the Bratschenkopfscharte and up to the summit cross
Summit cross
A summit cross is a cross on the summit of a mountain or hill that marks the top. Often there will be a "summit register" at the cross, either in a container or at least a weatherproof case....

 of the Hinterer Bratschenkopf. According to the literature, the journey takes about 2 to 3 hours, depending on the conditions. Another option is the easy firn ascent fron the southeast. More difficult climbs run from the Schwarzenberg Hut (2,267 m) to the south, over the Hochgruberkees and Bratschenkopfkees as an ice tour up the South Flank with gradients of 40 to 60°. Climbing routes of grade UIAA III run up the steep North Ridge (Nordgrat), a climb of 620 metres. Routes of up to about UIAA grade III+ difficulty and 1,300 metres in height run up the West Face, first conquered in 1928, but there is a high risk here of falling rocks
Rockfall
Rockfall or rock-fall refers to quantities of rock falling freely from a cliff face. A rockfall is a fragment of rock detached by sliding, toppling, or falling, that falls along a vertical or sub-vertical cliff, proceeds down slope by bouncing and flying along ballistic trajectories or by rolling...

.

Sources and maps

  • Willi End: Glocknergruppe Alpine Club Guide
    Alpine Club Guide
    The Alpine Club Guides are the standard series of Alpine guides that cover all the important mountain groups in the Eastern Alps. They are produced jointly by the German , Austrian and South Tyrol Alpine Clubs...

    , Bergverlag Rother
    Bergverlag Rother
    Bergverlag Rother is a German publisher with its headquarters in Oberhaching, Upper Bavaria. Since 1950 the company, that formerly went udern the name of Bergverlag Rudolf Rother, has published the Alpine Club Guides in cooperation with the German Alpine Club , the Austrian Alpine Club and the...

    , Munich, 2003, ISBN 3-7633-1266-8
  • Zeitschrift des Deutschen und Oesterreichischen Alpenvereins: Band III, p. 68, Munich, 1872
  • Eduard Richter: Die Erschließung der Ostalpen, Vol. III, Verlag des Deutschen und Oesterreichischen Alpenvereins, Berlin 1894
  • Alpine Club map
    Alpine Club map
    Alpine Club maps are specially detailed maps for summer and winter mountain climbers . They are predominantly published at a scale of 1:25.000, although some individual sheets have scales of 1:50.000 and 1:100.000....

    1:25.000, Sheet 40, Glocknergruppe
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