Vorderwaldberg is a dispersed settlement

Dispersed settlement

A dispersed settlement is one of the main types of settlement patterns used by landscape historians to classify rural settlements found in England and other parts of the world....

 in the Oberpinzgau, the upper Salzach

Salzach

The Salzach is a river in Austria and Germany. It is a right tributary of the Inn and is 225 kilometres in length.The river's name is derived from the German word Salz, meaning "salt". Until the 19th century shipping of salt down the river was an important part of the local economy...

 valley and the district of Zell am See/Pinzgau, and also a village in the municipality of Wald im Pinzgau

Wald im Pinzgau

Wald im Pinzgau is a municipality in the district of Zell am See , in the state of Salzburg in Austria. The population is 1176.-Municipal divisions:...

, on the southern edge of the Kitzbühel Alps in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

.

Geography

The settlement, which has about 90 inhabitants and 30 houses, lies up the valley from Wald im Salzachtal, on the southern slopes of the Salzach valley, the Vorderwaldberg, at an altitude between 950–1300 m (3,116.8–4,265.1 ft) on the Old Gerlos Road (Alten Gerlosstraße, the L 133).

The homesteads (Einöden) of Bachbauer and Watschbauer, and several other farmsteads belong to the village that extends for about 2.3 kilometres (1.4 mi) in an east–west direction.

Neighbouring settlements:

History

Vorderwaldberg lies on the old mule track (Saumpfad) from Mittersill

Mittersill

Mittersill is a city in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria, in the Pinzgau region of the Alps. It is located on the Salzach River. It had a population of 5,464 in 2005.- Geography :...

 as a trading hub on the route over the Gerlos Pass

Gerlos Pass

Gerlos Pass is a high mountain pass in the Austrian Alps between the Bundesländer of Salzburg and Tyrol.It connects the Oberpinzgau in the state of Salzburg with the Ziller River valley in Tyrol. The old road leads from Wald im Pinzgau to Gerlos in the Ziller valley. It is closed to trucking and...

 (Pinzgauer Höhe) to Zell am Ziller

Zell am Ziller

Zell am Ziller is a municipality in the Schwaz district of Tyrol, Austria. The name derives from the river Ziller.- Facilities :The Zillertal Arena was formed in 2000 from a merger of the ski areas of Zell, Gerlos and Königsleiten and is the largest ski area in the Ziller valley...

. It was upgraded into a cart track in 1631. In 1962 the new Gerlos Alpine Road (Gerlos Alpenstraße) via Krimml (today part of the B 165 Mittersill – Hainzenberg) was opened, that had been planned by graduate engineer Franz Wallack

Franz Wallack

Hofrat Dipl.-Ing. Franz Friedrich Wallack was the planning engineer of the Grossglockner High Alpine Road in Austria....

, the builder of the Großglockner High Alpine Road (Großglockner Hochalpenstraße). Consequently the Old Gerlos Road (Alte Gerlosstraße, today the L 133) lost its importance.

Tourism and places of interest

The Sixt Chapel (Sixtkapelle) on the Sonnberg, below the Vorderwaldberg, on the Old Gerlos Road (47°14′54.9"N 12°12′57.2"E). Below the Sixtus Chapel lies the Augentrost Chapel (Augentrostkapelle) which is also worth a visit.

The Arno Trail (Arnoweg) runs through this village, from Hinterwaldberg

Hinterwaldberg

Hinterwaldberg is a dispersed settlement in the Oberpinzgau, the upper Salzach valley and the district of Zell am See/Pinzgau, and is a village and Katastralgemeinde in the municipality of Wald im Pinzgau, on the southern edge of the Kitzbühel Alps in Austria.- Geography :The settlement, with...

 and Lahn, as a climb to the Pinzgauer Spaziergang.