Eissee

The Upper and Lower Eissee are twin mountain lakes in the Dachstein range of Upper Austria. They sit at nearly 2,000 metres above sea level, just north of the 2,794-metre Gjaidstein. The Lower Eissee occupies a shallow hollow called the Taubenkar, left behind when the Hallstätter Glacier melted in the 19th century. The glacier once reached down to the upper Taubenkar doline, but as it shrank it left behind a basin dammed by moraine gravel lined with limestone silt. For many years blocks of dead ice lay along its shores until they finally vanished. The Upper Eissee formed further west in the 20th century as the glacier continued to retreat. By 1921 the ice had pulled back enough for a small lake to appear at its foot. Over time the water grew as more ice melted, reaching about 100 by 50 metres and up to 10 metres deep. Later it shrank again to roughly a fifth of that size because of changing climate. In 1951 the lake still covered four hectares and the glacier calved directly into it. Today the ice has retreated well away from the shore and the lake has split into three smaller pools through natural silting. Visitors reach the lakes by following paths up from the Simony Hut and the nearby Dachstein Chapel. The Lower Eissee lies in a broad cirque surrounded by steep walls of pale limestone. Its waters are still and mirror the pale grey rock and the sky above. The Upper Eissee sits higher on the mountainside, where the ground is more broken and the pools lie scattered among patches of scree. Both lakes sit in silence, far above the tree line, with only the wind and the occasional rockfall to disturb the quiet.