Großer Bärenkopf
The Große Bärenkopf ("Great Bear's Head") or Weißer Bärenkopf ("White Bear's Head") is a twin-topped mountain in the Glockner Group in the Fuscher/Kapruner Kamm of the High Tauern, a range in the Austrian Central Alps. The mountain lies exactly on the border between the states of Salzburg and Carinthia.
| Großer Bärenkopf | |
|---|---|
Großer Bärenkopf (left), Mittlerer and Vorderer Bärenkopf (center) and Schattseitköpfl (right) | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 3,396 m (AA) (11,142 ft) |
| Prominence | 3,396-3,094 m ↓ Riffltor |
| Isolation | 1.7 km → Klockerin |
| Listing | Alpine mountains above 3000 m |
| Coordinates | 47°07′51″N 12°43′53″E |
| Geography | |
| Parent range | Glockner Group, High Tauern |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | 18 September 1869 by Karl Hofmann, Johann Stüdl and mountain guides, Thomas Groder and Josef Schnell |
| Normal route | High mountain tour from the Oberwalder Hut over a glacier to the Keilscharte notch and along the west arête to the summit |
The main summit is 3,396 m (AA) metres high; the west summit reaches a height of 3,353 m. The two peaks are about 300 metres away from one another. There are arêtes running away from the top in all four direction of the compass. Seen from the northeast, the Großer Bärenkopf, has the shape of a wide, prominent, firn- covered mountain. From the other directions it looks like a rocky peak. The mountain was first climbed on 18 September 1869 by Munich Alpinists Karl Hofmann, Prague merchant, Johann Stüdl, and mountain guides Thomas Groder and Josef Schnell from Kals am Großglockner on their exploratory tour, that took them on the same day to the neighbouring peaks of the Hinterer Bratschenkopf and Klockerin to the north. Today the Großer Bärenkopf is often climbed during a crossing from the Oberwalder Hut and the Heinrich Schwaiger Haus.