AUSTRIAN ALPS
F
ROM THE CORKSCREW
Corniches of the Côte d’Azur
to Amalfi’s clifftop roads,
Europe has its share of iconic
routes, but none can match
the Grossglockner High Alpine Road for
mountain splendour. Winding for 30 miles
through Hohe Tauern National Park, it’s
Austria’s highest, most hair-raising drive.
More rollercoaster than road, it veers
and dips, curls and swerves. It swings
round switchbacks and plunges through
tunnels. Fog, rockfalls and belligerent- The Grossglockner Road
Buckle up for an unforgettable ride along this sky-top
mountain road – just watch out for the mountain goats
mountain goats are routine hazards. From
November to April, the route is closed,
sitting under several metres of snow.
Even in summer, the weather is
unpredictable: the altitude means one
section can be swathed in cloud while
another basks in sunshine.
For most people, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime
journey, but for park ranger Konrad
Mariacher, it’s his daily commute. He lives
in Heiligenblut, an old gold-mining town
near the road’s southern gate. He’s driven
the Grossglockner in all weathers, but evenhe can sometimes be caught by surprise.
‘The road has a mind of its own,’ he
says, parking his truck at a viewpoint off
the road, overlooking the five-mile-long
Pasterze Glacier. Below him, a plain of
shattered rock and grey ice extends along
the valley. ‘When the cloud rolls in, one
curve looks exactly like another, so you
have to take care. But the real danger here
is the scenery. Every year, many cars
come off the road because the driver is
paying more attention to the view than to
the asphalt.’
He looks up to where the road loops
through long, arcing curves towards the
Hochtor, a mountain pass that’s been in
use since before Roman times. Beyond
here, there’s a spur that leads up to the
Edelweiss-Spitze, where a panorama
encompasses more than 30 peaks overEmerging from the Hochtor
Tunnel at the top of the
Grossglockner Road, the
view south into the province
of Carinthia takes in a few of
the route’s 38 hairpin bends