Austria · Alps
Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse
Austria's most famous Alpine road with 36 switchbacks climbing to the Edelweissspitze and Fuscher Törl, with views of the Grossglockner and Pasterze Glacier.
- Length
- 22.0 km
- Avg gradient
- 6.7%
- Max gradient
- 12%
- Elevation gain
- 1,476 m
- Summit
- 2,504 m
- Hairpins
- 36
Versants
- From Fusch — 22.0 km at 6.7% (max 12%)
- From Heiligenblut — 14.4 km at 8.0% (max 12%)
History
The Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse was built for reasons that had nothing to do with the view. Planning dates to 1924, but construction only began in 1930, driven largely by the 1929 stock market crash — the Austrian government revived the road project as a jobs programme, putting roughly 3,200 workers on the mountainside during the Depression. It opened on 3 August 1935, marked with an international car and motorcycle race, and has been one of the great Alpine roads ever since.
The road climbs to two high points — the Fuscher Törl at 2,428 m and the Hochtor at 2,504 m — over 48 km and 36 hairpins connecting Bruck in Salzburg to Heiligenblut in Carinthia. A short 1.5 km branch road off the Fuscher Törl runs up to the Edelweissspitze viewpoint at 2,571 m, the highest point reachable by paved road on the whole route.
It's a fixture of the Tour of Austria every year, and the Giro d'Italia has crossed it twice, in 1971 and 2011 — a rare high-mountain guest appearance outside its home race.