Isel

The Isel is a glacier-fed river in East Tyrol, Austria. It flows for 57.3 kilometres from the Umbalkees glacier in Hohe Tauern National Park near Rötspitze mountain. The river follows a geological fault and once held a glacier during the last ice age, leaving boulders and gravel along its valley. Its catchment area covers about 1,200 square kilometres, and it meets the Drava with a mean flow of 39 cubic metres per second. The river shifts constantly, creating a unique environment and daily floods along its banks.

The Isel is worth visiting for its natural power and conservation story. Environmentalists opposed plans to dam the river for hydroelectricity, and since 2015 it has been a Natura 2000 site. Wolfgang Retter led the fight against a reservoir project that was cancelled in 1989. The river offers excellent whitewater rafting with class III and IV rapids, and the Isel Trail lets walkers explore its length from Lienz to the glacier.

A visitor finds a hiking trail running the full 75-kilometre length of the Isel valley. The route passes waterfalls like the Upper and Lower Umbal Falls, where platforms let visitors view the cascades up close. Near Ströden, the Glo Gorge has near-vertical sides and a rainbow often appears in late afternoon. Older trees line some gorges, and the Daberer Waterfall near Schlaiten creates a fine mist at high flow. The lower valley holds islands of tamarisk with pinkish-white flowers from May to August.