Gletscherstrasse

Some 7km/4.5mi below the Hochtor tunnel on the south side of the Grossglockner Road, at the Posthaus Guttal (1,859m/6,099ft; inn), the Gletscherstrasse (Glacier Road, 9km/5.5mi) branches off to the west. If the weather is good this is a detour which should on no account be omitted. The excellently engineered road runs up, passing a number of parking places and the Margaritze artificial lake below the road (2,000m/6,560ft), to the Freiwandeck (2,369m/7,773ft) on the Franz- Josephs-Höhe (2,422m/7,947ft). From there is one of the grandest views in Europe: immediately opposite towers the Grossglockner (3,797m/12,458ft; nature reserve), Austria's highest peak; to the left, on the Adlersruhe (3,454m/11,333ft), the Erzherzog-Johann-Hütte; further left can be seen the Schwerteck and the Leiterköpfe, to the right the Glocknerwand, the Teufelskamp, the Romariswandkopf, the three rocky peaks of the Burgstall and perpetually snow-capped pyramid of the Johannisberg to the rear. Below the lookout platform, reached by a steep path or by funicular (212m/696ft) stretches the Pasterze, the largest glacier in the Eastern Alps, over 9km/5.5mi long and up to 1.6km/1mi wide (care necessary).