The Bockkar Glacier, Salzburg, Austria
N 47° 07.713 E 012° 48.429
33T E 333690 N 5221782
The Bockkar Glacier, Salzburg, Austria
Waymark Code: WMDPXA
Location: Salzburg, Austria
Date Posted: 02/12/2012
Views: 20
The Bockkar Glacier - the glacier with the largest ice avalanches in the Eastern Alps
In 1945, a massive ice avalanche (5 million m³) crashed down the Käfer Valley, which destroyed part of the forest, flattenend an alpine-meadow hut, and killed approximately seventy head of cattle. The associated avalanche of powered ice reached as far as the Trauner Meadow of the opposite valley side, 250m above the valley floor. It took 2 years until the avalanche cone in the Rotmoos had melted away.
The Bockkar Glacier is a cirque glacier with an area of 3.6 m². The accumulation zone is a large flat basin. The deposited snow eventually turns to ice in this area and then flows downward forming the glacier tongue which lies on a steeply inclined rock surface. An icefall is formed there that flows down at a rate of 20-50m per year. In some years there is a greater supply of ice, which results in increased flow. Meltwater underneath the glacier reduces the friction and enabled the sliding phases. The glacier loses its stability, a large portion brakes off, and an ice avalanche rushed down the valley. Between 1967 and 1983, large ice displacements took place every four years. The amount of ice decreased in the Eighties because the glacier remained snowfree at higher elevations during each summer. The ice mass in the accumulation zone was reduced, and simultaneously the glacier tongue melted to the great extend. There have been fewer ice avalanches since then.
Mountain / landmass name: Großglickner
Glacier type: ice
Final access method: Hiking trail
Safe viewing location: N 47° 07.713 W 012° 48.429
Photograph submitted: yes
Park name (if any): Not listed
Parking / trail head / boat launch: Not listed
Travel time (approximate): Not Listed
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Visit Instructions:
To log an existing waymark, you must post a photograph of you and the glacier [TAKEN FROM A SAFE LOCATION], and describe briefly how you arrived there.