Massive rock fall in Salzburger Land: A rock weighing 500 tons remained only 250 meters above the road to Wagrain, which is important for skiers.
St. Johann im Pongau – The Snow Space Salzburg ski area is one of the big magnets for winter sports enthusiasts in the Austrian Alps. For thousands of winter sports enthusiasts traveling to Wagrain, federal highway 163 is the most important connection, especially from Germany.
Rock fall in Austria ends lightly: 500-ton rock lands almost on the road to the ski resort near Salzburg
As it now turns out, there could have been a tragedy on the road: a huge rock fall occurred above the road last week. Around 3,000 cubic meters of rock have come loose 250 meters above Wagrainer Strasse. “No people or infrastructure were harmed,” said a statement from the state of Salzburg.
Road officials discovered a huge rock during a routine check
According to experts, there is currently no danger and the road can remain open. The site of the rock fall is secured with protective fences and dams; the structures were recently reinforced. The slope is regularly checked by road maintenance employees and state geologists, it is said.
During one of these checks, the large boulder was noticed. Salzburg state geologist Gerald Valentin examined the rockfall on Saturday (February 11th). The expert says in a statement from the state of Salzburg: “What is particularly impressive about this crash is a boulder measuring around 200 cubic meters in size and weighing 500 tonnes, which came to rest in its entirety. This is very rare, as a rule chunks from a rock fall are 20 cubic meters in size.”
Salzburg geologist: Extremely lucky that the boulder stopped above the road
Valentin continues: “But one thing has to be said: With this crash we were very lucky that the 500 ton rock stopped around 100 meters above the road. Because all safety measures are powerless against this mega-boulder.” On the alpine meadow where the rock came to rest, you can see the slip marks in the wet ground. The huge chunk got stuck in a slightly flatter spot. Ten months ago, a similar rock slid across a busy road in South Tyrol.
According to Valentin, one cause of the rockslide in St. Johann was the heavy rainfall at Christmas and New Year's Eve. “This certainly plays a role here and its effects occur with a time delay. But in principle, such crashes can occur again and again and cannot be predicted.” A hiking trail that leads directly past the crash area had to be closed. On Tuesday (February 13th) employees of the construction yard of the municipality of St. Johann inspected the condition of the Rettenstein circular path.
Heavy Christmas and New Year's Eve rain washed the rocks out of the slope
Pieces of rock, landslides and mudslides have been causing a stir in the Alps for months. Just on Tuesday there was a rockfall on the Brenner State Road in South Tyrol. The day before, two rock falls in Trentino blocked a road near Lake Garda and Rovereto. On Tuesday last week a rockfall thundered down on the Gardesana road near Trento.
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