Austria is a predominantly mountainous country in Central Europe, approximately between Germany, Italy and Hungary. It has a total area of 83,871 square kilometres (32,383 sq mi).
The main chain of the Alps, also called the Alpine divide is the central line of mountains that forms the drainage divide of the range. Main chains of mountain ranges are traditionally designated in this way, and generally include the highest peaks of a range. The Alps are something of an unusual case in that several significant groups of mountains are separated from the main chain by sizable distances. Among these groups are the Dauphine Alps, the Eastern and Western Graians, the entire Bernese Alps, the Tödi, Albula and Silvretta groups, the Ortler and Adamello ranges, and the Dolomites of South Tyrol, as well as the lower Alps of Vorarlberg, Bavaria, and Salzburg.
The higher region of the Alps were long left to the exclusive attention of the inhabitants of the adjoining valleys, even when Alpine travellers began to visit these valleys. It is reckoned that about 20 glacier passes were certainly known before 1600, about 25 more before 1700, and yet another 20 before 1800. Even though the attempt of P.A. Arnod, an official of the duchy of Aosta, in 1689 to "re-open" the Col du Ceant may be counted as having been made by a non-native, historical records do not show any further such activities until the last quarter of the 18th century. Nor did it fare much better with the high peaks, though the two earliest recorded ascents were due to non-natives, that of the Rocciamelone in 1358 having been undertaken in fulfilment of a vow, and that of the Mont Aiguille in 1492 by order of Charles VIII of France, in order to destroy its immense reputation for inaccessibility – in 1555 Conrad Gesner did not climb Pilatus proper, but only the grassy mound of the Gnepfstein, the lowest and the most westerly of the seven summits.
Wildspitze is the highest mountain in the Ötztal Alps and in North Tyrol, as well as the second highest mountain in Austria after the Großglockner and in terms of prominence is the fourth summit of the Alps and the fifteenth of Europe.
The Grossglockner, or just Glockner, is, at 3,798 metres above the Adriatic (12,461 ft), the highest mountain in Austria and the highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass. It is part of the larger Glockner Group of the Hohe Tauern range, situated along the main ridge of the Central Eastern Alps and the Alpine divide. The Pasterze, Austria's most extended glacier, lies on the Grossglockner's eastern slope.
The Ötztal Alps are a mountain range in the Central Eastern Alps, in the State of Tyrol in western Austria and the Province of South Tyrol in northern Italy.
The Aiguille de Bionnassay is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif of the Alps in France and Italy. It has been described as "one of the most attractive satellite peaks of Mont Blanc", and is located on its western side. The mountain's south and east ridges form the frontier between the two countries, and its summit is a knife-edge crest of snow and ice. Reaching it via any route provides a "splendid and serious snow and ice climb".
The High Tauern are a mountain range on the main chain of the Central Eastern Alps, comprising the highest peaks east of the Brenner Pass. The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian states of Salzburg, Carinthia and East Tyrol, with a small part in the southwest belongs to the Italian province of South Tyrol. The range includes Austria's highest mountain, the Grossglockner at 3,798 metres (12,461 ft) above the Adriatic.
The Aiguille du Midi is a 3,842-metre-tall (12,605 ft) mountain in the Mont Blanc massif within the French Alps. It is a popular tourist destination and can be directly accessed by cable car from Chamonix that takes visitors close to Mont Blanc.
Hoher Dachstein is a strongly karstic mountain in central Austria and the second-highest mountain in the Northern Limestone Alps. It is situated at the border of Upper Austria and Styria, and is the highest point in each of those states. Parts of the massif also lie in the state of Salzburg, leading to the mountain being referred to as the Drei-Länder-Berg.
The Alps form a large mountain range dominating Central Europe, including parts of Italy, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovenia, Germany and Hungary.
The Eastern Alps are usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley, up to the Splügen Pass at the Alpine divide, and down the Liro River to Lake Como in the south. The peaks and mountain passes are lower than the Western Alps, while the range itself is broader and less arched.
The Radstadt Tauern are a subrange of the Central Eastern Alps in Austria. Together with the Schladming Tauern, the Rottenmann and Wölz Tauern and the Seckau Tauern the Radstadt Tauern form the major range of mountains known as the Low Tauern. The mountains are found in the southeast of the Austrian state of Salzburg, between the upper reaches of the Enns and Mur rivers.
The Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey is a mountain of the Mont Blanc massif in Italy. It is considered the most difficult and serious of the alpine 4000-m mountains to climb.
The Aiguille des Glaciers is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif of the Graian Alps. It lies on the borders of Savoie and Haute-Savoie in France and Aosta Valley in Italy.
The Dachstein Mountains are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps.
Three-thousanders are mountains with a height of between 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), but less than 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) above sea level. Similar terms are commonly used for mountains of other height brackets e. g. four-thousanders or eight-thousanders. In Britain, the term may refer to mountains above 3,000 feet (910 m).
The Glocknerhorn and Teufelshorn are two nearby mountain peaks in the Glockner Group in the Austrian Central Alps in the central part of the High Tauern. According to the literature, Teufelshorn is 3,677 metres high. The Austrian Federal Office for Metrology and Survey gives Glocknerhorn's elevation as 3,680 metres, but naming it "Teufelshorn" by mistake. Both lie on the Northwest Ridge (Nordwestgrat) of Austria's highest peak, the neighbouring Großglockner, along which the border between the Austrian federal states of Tyrol and Carinthia runs. The lower Teufelshorn in the west has a turret-like summit that juts about 30 metres above the massif itself and, together with the higher and similar-looking Glocknerhorn in the east, forms a twin peak. The Teufelshorn was first climbed on 8 August 1884 by Moriz von Kuffner, guided by Christian Ranggetiner and E. Rubesoier. The 3,680-metre-high (12,070 ft) Glocknerhorn, by contrast, had already been conquered on 29 August 1879 by the Alpinists, Gustav Gröger and Christian Ranggetiner.
The Partizione delle Alpi is a classification of the mountain ranges of the Alps, that is primarily used in Italian literature, but also in France and Switzerland. It was devised in 1926.
The Rottenmann and Wölz Tauern are a subrange of the Austrian Central Alps within the Eastern Alps. Together with the Radstadt Tauern, the Schladming Tauern and the Seckau Tauern the Rottenmann and Wölz Tauern form the major range known as the Low Tauern. The mountains are located in Austria in the federal state of Styria.
