Kalbelesee

The Kalbelesee is a natural high-mountain lake beside the Hochtannberg Pass in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It sits just a few metres from the Bregenzerwald road between Schröcken and Warth, at about 1 653 metres above sea level. The lake has an area of roughly 2.4 hectares and reaches a maximum depth of about 4.5 metres. A short distance to the south-west lies the Körbersee, another small alpine lake. The Seebach stream flows through the Kalbelesee. Local legend tells how a proud farmer had his favourite calf baptised in the Seebach like a person. Offended by his arrogance, the earth opened and swallowed both calf and farmer, leaving a hollow that filled with water to become the Kalbelesee. Records from the early 19th-century Franziszeischer Kataster map the same body of water under the name Körbersee. The lake is protected as a valuable biotope in Vorarlberg’s biotope inventory. Around the shore grows an extensive stand of bottle sedge, while the water itself hosts rare plants such as long-leaved pondweed, the moss Calliergon giganteum and various stoneworts. Wet meadows nearby are dominated by tussock cottongrass, with patches of stiff sedge, brown sedge, mud sedge and Davall’s sedge. The Seebach continues its course downstream, carrying clear mountain water away from the lake.