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Encyclopedia > Timmelsjoch
Timmelsjoch

View from Timmelsjoch to the South
Elevation 8232 ft./2509 m.
Location Flag of Austria Austria / Flag of Italy Italy
Range Alps
Coordinates 46°54′19″N, 11°5′48″E

Timmelsjoch, Italian: Passo del Rombo, (el. 8232 ft./2509 m.) is a high mountain pass that creates a link through the Ötztal Alps along the current border between Austria and Italy. Image File history File links View from the Timmelsjoch pass to the south. ... A topographical summit is a point on a surface which is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Austria. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy. ... For exotic financial options, see Mountain range (options). ... Alp redirects here. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... In a range of hills, or especially of mountains, a pass (also gap, notch, col, saddle, bwlch or bealach) is a lower point that allows easier access through the range. ... The Ötztal Alps (Ger. ...


The Timmelsjoch connects the Ötztal valley in the Austrian state of Tyrol to the Passer valley, later Adige Valley, in the Italian province of Bolzano-Bozen, as it bridges the saddle point between the Jochköpfl (10,305 ft./3,141 m.) and Wurmkogl (10,112 ft/3,082 m) peaks to its northeast and southwest, respectively. The pass is sometimes called the "secret passage" because it is little-used compared to the much easier and lower Brenner Pass some 15 miles/25 km to its east, and Resia Pass some 40 miles/60 km to its west. The Ötztal Alps (Ötztaler Alpen in German) are a mountain range in the central Alps of Europe, part of the Central Eastern Alps. ... Coat of arms of the Counts of Tyrol Austria-Hungary in 1914, showing Tirol–Vorarlberg as the left-most province, coloured cream Capital Meran (Merano), until 1848 Government Principality Historical era Middle Ages  - Created County 1140  - Bequeathed to Habsburgs 1363 or 1369  - Joined Council of Princes 1582  - Trent, Tyrol and... The Adige (Italian: ; German: ; Ladin: Adiç or Adesc; Latin: Athesis; Trentino: Ades; Veneto: Adexe; Slovenian: Adiža) is a river with its source in the Alpine region of Trentino-Tiroler Etschland near the Italian border with Austria and Switzerland. ... The Province of Bolzano-Bozen[1][2][3] (Italian: ; German: ; Ladin: Provinzia autonoma de Bulsan), also referred to in English as Alto Adige (from the Italian name) or South Tyrol (from the German name Südtirol) is an autonomous province of Italy. ... The Brenner Pass (Italian Passo del Brennero) is a mountain pass that creates a link through the Tyrolean Alps along the current border between the nations of Austria and Italy, one of the principal passes of the Alps. ... Resia Pass (Italian: Passo di Resia, German: Reschenpass) is an Alpine pass (1504 m) located at the Italian-Austrian border, close to the border with Switzerland. ...


By 3,000 BC, the glaciers of the last Ice Age were retreating, but the Alps remained grim and forbidding. Solitary hunters, fugitives, and scattered tribes were the only people who ventured this high. The lure of treasure, however, brought adventurers from the early Bronze Age to extract the copper. Later in the Middle Ages, mining influenced the development of a road network. Marble quarries, semiprecious stones, and oil shales were all exploited. (31st century BC - 30th century BC - 29th century BC - other centuries) (4th millennium BC - 3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC) Events 2925 - 2776 BC - First Dynasty wars in Egypt 2900 BC - Beginning of the Early Dynastic Period I in Mesopotamia. ...


Travelers, peddlers, and those with pack-animals all sought the shortest route across the main Alpine ridge. The Timmelsjoch was always one of the most important of these routes, due to the political development of the region throughout the centuries. The road leads from Merano, the old capital, to the Passer valley. At Saint Leonhard the roads forks, one crossing the Timmelsjoch saddle and continuing on through the Ötz valley to the Inn valley, while the other leads to the Jaufen Pass and down to Sterzing, then joining the great Brenner Pass road. Saint Leonhard is the patron saint of carters and was also venerated by peddlers. Merano (Italian, now most common in English; German: Meran, also used in English; Ladin: Meran; Archaic (857 AD): Mairania; Latin: Merona; many of the regions Italian languages/dialects use Meran), is a town in the province of Bolzano-Bozen, Italy. ... Sterzing-Vipiteno is an Italian commune in the province of Bolzano in Trentino-Alto Adige. ...


The Timmelsjoch is the deepest non-glaciated indentation in the main Alpine ridge between the Reschen and Brenner Passes. Its name is older than that of the Brenner, first documented in 1241 as “Thymelsjoch” in a letter written by the Bavarian Counts of Eschenlohe. For centuries, the spelling “Thimmeljoch” prevailed, only changing to “Timmelsjoch” during the construction of the paved road in the twentieth century, when modern surveying techniques were applied to earlier cartographic ideas to determine the best route.

Part of the Timmelsjoch Hochalpenstrasse on the Italian side
Part of the Timmelsjoch Hochalpenstrasse on the Italian side

On July 7, 1959, after four years of construction, the 12-kilometer road was finally opened to the public. The road was well-engineered and perfectly integrated into the landscape. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (3456 × 2304 pixel, file size: 4. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (3456 × 2304 pixel, file size: 4. ... is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...


While the road up from the Ötz valley was built for tourism purposes, the situation in the Passer valley (south side) was very different: as in many other parts of the Italian Alps, Mussolini, the ruler from 1922 to 1945, had numerous military roads built up towards Italy's international borders. Construction of the road from Moos in Passeier (Passer valley, 1000m, 22km from the pass) commenced in the 1930's. With the infamous meeting between Mussolini and Hitler on the Brenner in 1939, construction work ceased. The road was narrow and rough, but had almost been completed (the last, 700m-long tunnel had been dug through - just the remaining 2 km stretch from its end to the pass had not been built; the tunnel partly collapsed in the following years of disuse). During the period 1939 to the mid 1960's, the unfinished, grassed-over road was only used for forestry purposes. Construction work resumed in the mid 1960's and the road was completed to the pass and opened to through traffic in 1967.


The road on the Ötz valley side is called the Timmelsjoch Hochalpenstrasse.


The pass is now popular with car and motorbike tourists. Due to its elevation, steepness, and narrow road, the pass is closed to lorries and vehicles with trailers. The pass road is open to traffic from app. the first half of June to the second half of October (the exact dates depending on snow conditions) daily from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM. The Ötz valley side is subject to toll charges.


The road has, on account of the dramatic scenery particularly on the south side, become popular with cyclists too. On the last Sunday in August, several thousand cyclists taking part in the Ötz Valley Cycling Marathon (Ötztaler Radmarathon) crawl up the 29 kilometre-long section from St. Leonhard in Passeier (672m) to the pass, gaining 1800m (6000ft) - this is the fourth and final pass included in the gruelling 238 kilometre marathon.

In front of the Tollstation of the Timmelsjoch
In front of the Tollstation of the Timmelsjoch

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1280x853, 130 KB) Summary Photo of the Tollstation of the Timmelsjoch from the austrian side, on the jpg is also a Audi 80, this car is my own car. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1280x853, 130 KB) Summary Photo of the Tollstation of the Timmelsjoch from the austrian side, on the jpg is also a Audi 80, this car is my own car. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Timmelsjoch

Coordinates: 46°54′19″N, 11°5′48″E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...


  Results from FactBites:
 
Timmelsjoch-Hochalpenstrassen AG - Panoramastrasse in den Alpen (262 words)
Der Öffnungszeitpunkt der Timmelsjoch – Hochalpenstrasse hängt aufgrund der exponierten Hochgebirgslage wesentlich von der Schneelage sowie den Geländeverhältnissen ab.
Die Fahrt über das 2509m hohe Timmelsjoch durch die Ötztaler Gletscherwelt in die Südtiroler Weinberge des Passeiertales nach Meran und weiter in den Süden bleibt ein unvergessenens Erlebnis.
Von hier aus steigt die Passstraße in langezogenen Kehren hinauf bis zum Timmelsjoch.
TrekEarth | Attacking the Timmelsjoch Photo (307 words)
The Timmelsjoch, also known as the Passo del Rombo, is a mountain pass that creates a link through the Ötztal Alps along the current border between the nations of Austria and Italy.
The Timmelsjoch is a high (8,232 ft/2,509 m) pass that links the Otz valley in the Austrian province of Tirol to the Adige valley in the Italian province of South Tyrol.
Since the construction of a paved road (finished July 7, 1959), the pass road is called the Timmelsjoch Hochalpenstrasse.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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