The Höllengebirge is a mountain range in the Upper Austrian part of the Salzkammergut and is part of the Northern Limestone Alps. The high plateau, which averages in elevation, reaches its highest point at the Großer Höllkogel with . The heavily karstified mountain consists primarily of Wetterstein limestone and drains mostly underground. The Höllengebirge is developed for tourism with mountain huts and an extensive network of trails. There are ski areas at the Feuerkogel and near the Taferlklaussee. The Feuerkogel is accessible year-round via the Feuerkogelseilbahn from Ebensee am Traunsee. Forests are present only on the flanks of the mountain. The plateau itself is covered with extensive stands of mountain pine (Pinus mugo). The Höllengebirge is owned by the Austrian Federal Forests. The name derives from the cirque "In der Höll" on the south side of the mountain.
Geography
The Höllengebirge has a maximum extent of 17 km from the Attersee in the west to the Traunsee in the east and 11 km from north to south; it covers a total area of 126.8 km².Franz Hauzenberger: Höllengebirge. Wander-, Kletter- und Schiführer. 2nd edition, self-published, Vöcklabruck 2005, p. 7. The northern boundary is formed by the Kienbach, which flows from the Krahbergtaferl saddle to the Attersee, and the upper course of the Aurach from the Taferlklaussee to the Großalm. The boundary runs up to the high Lueg saddle, down to the Hinterer Langbathsee, and along the Langbathbach to its mouth in the Traunsee in Ebensee. In the southeast, the area between Ebensee and Mitterweißenbach is bounded by the Traun. The southwestern boundary between Mitterweißenbach and Weißenbach am Attersee is the Weißenbachtal. The boundary is closed along the Attersee shore between Weißenbach and Seefeld.Franz Hauzenberger: Höllengebirge. Wander-, Kletter- und Schiführer. 2nd edition, self-published, Vöcklabruck 2005, p. 7. Administratively, the Höllengebirge lies in the Vöcklabruck District (west), part of the Hausruckviertel, and the Gmunden District (east), part of the Traunviertel. Historically, the entire Höllengebirge belonged to the Hausruckviertel, which at that time extended to the Traun, but today the boundary between Hausruckviertel and Traunviertel follows the district boundary and runs from the Krahbergtaferl to the Hochleckenhaus, over the Grünalmkogel and to the Hohe Rehstatt to the Weißenbacher Straße in the south. The following municipalities in the Gmunden District have shares in the Höllengebirge: the town of Bad Ischl with part of the cadastral municipality of Jainzen, the market town of Ebensee with the cadastral municipality of Langwies and parts of the cadastral municipality of Oberlangbath, and the market town of Altmünster with parts of the cadastral municipality of Neukirchen. In the Vöcklabruck District, the Höllengebirge extends over most of the municipality of Steinbach am Attersee.
Transport In the north, the Großalm Straße L544 runs from Steinbach am Attersee to Neukirchen near Altmünster. Its highest point is at the Taferlhöhe , near the Taferlklaussee. In the east, the Langbath Straße L1297 leads from Ebensee to the Vorderer Langbathsee. Along the Traun in the east runs the Salzkammergutstraße. In the south, the Weißenbacher Straße runs through the Weißenbachtal. It starts at the Salzkammergutstraße and ends in Weißenbach am Attersee in the west. Along the eastern shore of the Attersee is the Seeleiten Straße. The Feuerkogelseilbahn is an aerial tramway and leads from Ebensee to the Feuerkogel. From the Ebensee district of Langwies, a gravel road leads to the Feuerkogel from the southeast. It is closed to public traffic, but cycling is permitted.
Topography
The Höllengebirge is a plateau mountain with an average elevation of . The high plateau is furrowed by ravines and pits and dotted with sinkholes. The depression of the Pfaffengraben, which partly lies below , divides the high plateau into the smaller western and larger eastern Höllengebirge. The Höllengebirge reaches its highest point at the Großer Höllkogel with . The northern escarpments are very steep, rocky, and partly feature bizarre rock towers such as the Adlerspitze and the Steinerne Männer. They begin at the Attersee and reach wall heights of 600 m at the Madlschneid.Bernd Ruttner: Die Vegetation des Höllengebirges. pp. 13–15. The walls are interrupted by flatter sections, such as the Brennerriese, the Bleggagraben, and the Langer Graben. At the eastern and western ends, the rock walls become steeper and more inaccessible. The 600 m high Gamswand of the Hoher Spielberg forms the end of the Langbathtal. The southern slopes are less exposed. The mountain rises to the high plateau in steep slopes and slab shoots. Characteristic of the middle part of the southern slopes are the avalanche chutes Brunnlahngang, Klauslahngang, and Hasellahngang. The eponymous cirque In der Höll is also located on the southern slopes.Bernd Ruttner: Die Vegetation des Höllengebirges. pp. 15–16.
Summits Selected summits of the Höllengebirge accessible via marked trails: +Western HöllengebirgeSummitElevation (m)Grünalmkogel1821Brunnkogel1708Hochleckenkogel1691Brennerin1602Dachsteinblick1559Schoberstein1037 +Eastern HöllengebirgeSummitElevation (m)Großer Höllkogel1862Hochhirn1821Vorderer Kesselgupf1822Eiblgupf1813Helmeskogel1633Feuerkogel1592
Waters
Around the Höllengebirge there are numerous streams that mostly originate at the foot of the mountain. The general watershed runs from the Taferlhöhe over the Hochleckenkogel to the Sulzberg and over the Hohe Rehstatt to the Jagdhaus Umkehrstube in the Weißenbachtal. The streams flowing to the Attersee collect in the Kienbach and the Äußerer Weißenbach. The most important tributaries are the Zwieselbach in the north and the Gimbach in the south.Hans Egger: Erläuterungen zu Blatt 66 Gmunden. pp. 6–7. The Aurach originates at the end of the Langer Graben and shortly thereafter forms the Taferlklaussee. The Hinterer Langbathsee and the Vorderer Langbathsee collect water from the northeastern part of the mountain. Only a few smaller streams from the Spitzalm area flow directly to the Traun. The Mitterweißenbach carries the waters from the south of the mountain to the Traun and has the Höllbach and the Wambach as its largest tributaries.Bernd Ruttner: Die Vegetation des Höllengebirges. pp. 15–16.
Geology
Tectonics
Tectonically, the Höllengebirge is a massive, northward-dipping (north-vergent) domed fold (anticline) of the Staufen-Höllengebirge nappe, belonging to the Tyrolean nappe unit (Tyrolicum), where in the south the hanging wall limb rises at an angle of 25 to 35 degrees and gradually turns into a vertical to slightly overturned bedding toward the northern edge of the Höllengebirge. Beneath the Höllengebirge nappe lies the Langbath zone (Bavarian nappe), which reaches its greatest width of about four kilometers north-south in the area of the Vorderer Langbathsee. In the middle Cretaceous about 80 million years ago, the first folding of the mountain occurred, after which it was flooded again by the Gosau Sea. In the Tertiary, the Höllengebirge was uplifted again together with the Alps and shifted northward. This completed the nappe formation to date. During the overriding of the Höllengebirge nappe, the underlying Langbath zone was also deformed, so that it also dips slightly northward at the front of the Höllengebirge nappe.Hans Egger: Erläuterungen zu Blatt 66 Gmunden. pp. 6–7.Franz Hauzenberger: Höllengebirge. Wander-, Kletter- und Schiführer. 2nd edition, self-published, Vöcklabruck 2005, pp. 7–9
Lithostratigraphy In its central part, the Höllengebirge nappe consists almost exclusively of Wetterstein limestone, which was formed from the Anisian to the early Carnian of the Triassic about 247 to 235 million years ago. In the south, east to the Wambachtal, Wetterstein dolomite forms the base of the mountain. It formed during the same epoch but has a higher magnesium content. The thickness of the Wetterstein limestone is 1000 to 1200 m in the west and just under 1000 m in the east.Franz Hauzenberger: Höllengebirge. Wander-, Kletter- und Schiführer. 2nd edition, self-published, Vöcklabruck 2005, pp. 7–9. In the southeast, the stratigraphically higher, thus younger Hauptdolomit forms the frame of the mountain. Between them are layers of the Lunz Formation tens of meters thick, forming the separation horizon between the Wetterstein dolomite and the Hauptdolomit. The Lunz Formation is accompanied by the Opponitz Formation.Hans Egger: Erläuterungen zu Blatt 66 Gmunden. pp. 17–18. The Langbath zone is separated from the Höllengebirge nappe by a narrow band of Lunz layers. It consists predominantly of Hauptdolomit and overlying platy limestone (Norian), above which in east-west oriented basins follow sediments of the Kössen Formation (Rhaetian) and the Schrambach Formation (Lower Cretaceous). These consist mainly of marl, radiolarite, sandstone, conglomerate, and breccia.Hans Egger: Erläuterungen zu Blatt 66 Gmunden. pp. 6–7.
Former glaciation
The Höllengebirge was always glaciated during the ice ages, with the glacier flowing little on the plateau and preserving the old landscape. On the flanks, however, the ice scoured cirques and avalanche chutes. The glacier courses of the Würm glaciation are particularly recognizable by the marked terminal moraines. The most powerful glacier developed in the catchment area of the Langbathbach from the cirques between the Brunn- and Alberfeldkogel. It filled the valley to a height of more than but could not cross the Lueg saddle to the Aurachtal. Another glacier tongue developed from the cirque around the Antoniusbründl. The terminal moraine is at the Kienklause inn. A glacier also formed in the Aurach cirque, filling the basin around the Taferlklaussee. Terminal moraines exist at the Großalm inn; they also form the Krahbergtaferl saddle. The glaciers flowing south merged with the Traun Glacier, specifically with its side branch flowing west through the Weißenbachtal
Hydrogeology
The deeply karstified Wetterstein limestone of the Höllengebirge drains underground. Thus, there are no lakes or streams on the plateau and only very few springs such as the Antoniusbründl. The most numerous and highly productive karst springs are at the southern foot, only a few at the northern foot. This is due to the dip of the Höllengebirge nappe and the Langbath zone, as the nappe boundary is accompanied by water-impermeable sediments and there is a slight slope toward the south. The southward drainage was first proven in 1983 during a marking experiment by the Hydrological Investigation Office Salzburg, when a tracer was injected west of the Hochleckenkogel at the northern boundary and color passage was recorded exclusively at the Gimbach spring on the south side.Hans Egger: Erläuterungen zu Blatt 66 Gmunden. pp. 44–48. +Discharge characteristics of the largest springs of the Höllengebirge based on monthly values from 1981 to 1984Hans Egger: Erläuterungen zu Blatt 66 Gmunden. pp. 44–48.SpringLocationElevation [m a.s.l.]Minimum observed discharge [l/s]Mean observed discharge [l/s]Maximum observed discharge [l/s]Schwarzenbach springSouth520705382500Gimbach springSouth650503423500Höllbach springSouth600503262500Miesenbach springEast455249169581
Karst