Hinterer Bratschenkopf

The Hinterer Bratschenkopf is a 3,413-metre peak in the Glockner Group of the High Tauern range. It stands on the Fusch-Kaprun ridge in Salzburg, where its summit curves gently above glaciers. From the west a sheer 1,400-metre rock wall drops to the Klockerinkees. A narrow 500-metre ridge runs north from the top like a blade. The Heinrich Schwaiger Haus, a high Alpine hut at 2,802 metres, lies close to the east. The mountain is worth the journey because it offers a classic high-mountain climb first reached in 1869. Karl Hofmann, Johann Stüdl and local guides Thomas Groder and Josef Schnell made the first ascent. Its name was fixed in 1871 by Major Joseph Pelikan after the broken calc-schist slabs called Bratschen. Confusion over nearby peaks ended only with the 1891 Alpine Club map. The summit is a fine viewpoint near the hut. A visitor finds a marked route from the hut up the Kaindlgrat ridge and over the Wielingerscharte notch. The path crosses the upper Wielingerkees glacier and passes the West Ridge of the Großes Wiesbachhorn. After the Bratschenkopfscharte the trail leads to the summit cross. The surroundings hold the Kaindlkees, Teufelsmühlkees and Bratschenkopfkees glaciers. To the northwest the mountain falls steeply to the Mooserboden dam. Views stretch across the Glockner Group’s icy summits.