Großvenediger
Encyclopedia
Großvenediger is generally considered to be Austria's
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 fourth highest mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...

 (although it can be up to sixteenth if every subsidiary summit is counted). It is located in the Hohe Tauern
Hohe Tauern
The Hohe Tauern or High Tauern are a mountain range on the main chain of the Central Eastern Alps, comprising the highest peaks east of the Brenner Pass. The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian state of Salzburg with Carinthia and East Tyrol, while a small part in the southwest belongs...

 National Park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...

 on the border of Salzburg
Salzburg (state)
Salzburg is a state or Land of Austria with an area of 7,156 km2, located adjacent to the German border. It is also known as Salzburgerland, to distinguish it from its capital city, also named Salzburg...

 and East Tyrol
East Tyrol
East Tyrol, or East Tirol , is an exclave of the Austrian state of Tyrol, sharing no border with the main North Tyrol part of the state. It corresponds with the administrative district of Lienz....

, and is covered by glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

s.

Originally known as Stützerkopf, the name "Großvenediger" (=big Venetian
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

) is first recorded from a border survey in 1797. The origin of this name is unclear, perhaps deriving from Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 merchants who came from Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 in the south over the mountains. An alternative theory is that the view from the summit may reach as far as Venice, some 200 km away.

Climbing history

In 1828, an expedition of 17 men, including Archduke Johann, failed in their attempt to climb Großvenediger.

It wasn't until forty years after the first successful ascent of the Großglockner
Großglockner
The Grossglockner is, at 3,798 m above sea level, Austria's highest mountain and the highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass...

 that a team led by Josef Schwab made the first successful attempt on the summit of Großvenediger, having begun at Neukirchen am Großvenediger
Neukirchen am Großvenediger
Neukirchen am Großvenediger is a market town in the district of Zell am See , in the state of Salzburg in Austria. Neukirchen is at an altitude of 856 meters and its population is 2,616.-Externan links:...

and climbed up Obersulzbachtal and over the Stierlahnerwand. Other members of the team included Ignaz von Kürsinger, Paul Rohregger, Dr. Ruthner and Dr. Spitaler. Of the 40 participants, only 26 finally reached the summit, the others having stayed back due to fatigue.
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