Hochtor

The Hochtor stands at the crest of the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, 2,576 metres above sea level, where Salzburg meets Carinthia. The pass carries a modern tunnel bored at 2,504 metres and the old paved route that once carried Roman traffic and medieval packhorses. Below, the road twists up from Fusch through the Fuscher Törl and drops through the Mittertörl tunnel before climbing again to the Hochtor saddle.

Archaeologists found bronze statuettes and Celtic silver coins at the pass, evidence of a Roman sanctuary complex that once lined the ridge. In the 17th century the Hochtor was Austria’s third most important Alpine crossing after the Brenner and Radstädter Tauern passes. The present road was championed by Salzburg’s Landeshauptmann Franz Rehrl, who cut the first symbolic blast at Ferleiten in 1930 and saw the full route open by the end of 1932.

Visitors reach the Hochtor by car or bus and step into an alpine world of wind-scoured limestone and wide horizons. The tunnel mouth frames the Grossglockner massif to the west and the Möll valley to the east. Nearby the Wallackhaus hotel offers food and shelter, while the old Hochtor pass itself can be reached on foot along the historic route that once linked the Fusch and Rauris valleys.