Taschachferner

The Taschachferner is a glacier in the Ötztal Alps of Tirol, Austria. It lies at the end of the Pitztal valley, north of the Wildspitze, the highest mountain in North Tirol. The glacier splits into two parts: a larger eastern section and a western section broken into smaller fragments. The Petersenspitze, a 3,472-metre peak, and its northeast ridge separate the two areas. The eastern Taschachferner once connected to the western section but lost contact as the glacier shrank. By 2006, the eastern glacier covered 5.71 square kilometres. Its ice tongue now ends near the Taschachhaus, an alpine club hut, at about 2,200 metres. Since 1970, the glacier’s tongue has retreated more than 250 metres, including 104 metres in 2004–2005, a record for Eastern Alpine glaciers. A small lake has formed at the glacier’s end since 2003, and the lowest ice cliff shown on older maps has nearly vanished. Visitors to the area see the glacier framed by peaks such as the Schuchtkogel and Hinterer Brochkogel. Below the glacier, melting ice has exposed parts of an American B-17 bomber that crashed during the Second World War. Nearby, the Taschachhaus provides a base for those exploring the glacier and surrounding mountains. The glacier’s rapid retreat also reveals traces of past accidents, including an ice avalanche in 1962 that killed three Gendarmerie mountain guides during a training exercise.