Austria’s Mountain Roads

The road’s story goes back to the 1930s when the number of personal cars grew and thereby the demand for paved roads did as well. This change and the need for a road connecting the regions of Salzburg and Carinthia going through the Alps formed the motivation to build the Grossglockner Hocheralpenstraße. At the building there were doubts about the development, questioning whether it will bring enough profit to justify such an investment, but regardless, they started to lay the road that was planned to be only 3 meters wide. As the work progressed, it became more obvious that the road will have enough traffic, even more, than they first estimated, so they decided to widen it to 6 meters before the end of the construction. 20 years later, it reached its final width of 7,5 meters during a large renovation.

The first form of the road was completed in 1936, but due to its growing popularity, there are constant renovations and maintenance work continues up to this day. An interesting fact is that since it was opened, it has been used as a racing track multiple times, but this was not made a tradition, unlike other famous European roads. With the construction of motorways, its function has changed throughout the years. For example, the opportunities given by the number of bends and slopes have been used by many car manufacturing companies to test new, unrevealed modells, which is why there are often cars with bizarre camouflage on these serpentines roads. Also, a few cycling competitions take place on the panorama road every year.

One of the Grossglockner's large advantages for productions are its many resting places, restaurants and larger car parks alongside it, which provide opportunities to make a base there. Another useful consequence of the road being in private property is it often being under maintenance, it's surface's immaculate condition,  the tarmac being precisely painted and the guardrails are modern as well. Another not negligible example of this well-developed infrastructure is that not one lamppost nor cable can be seen along the road, which further heightens the value of the view and the simplicity of shooting.

The road itself can be divided into multiple sections and the various sections are each located on different sides of the given mountainside. Since the original aim of the road was to travel over the mountain, the main route is located on the Northern and Southern side, but the Northern section is straighter and during the hillier sections on lower areas, it changes sides multiple times and even goes along the mountain's backbone. Alongside the road, we can see the indispensable Alpine cows, as well as marmots and mountain goats.

Due to the extreme height’s weather conditions, like snow, the road is closed from November to May. The 6 months when it is open can be divided into two periods regarding the weather; a period consisting of the spring and autumn months and one of the summer ones. Although from June to August the temperature is around zero degrees around the peak, on the journey upwards it can get somewhat warmer, 10°C in average, while on the lower sections around 1000 meters 15 to 20°C can be expected. On the other hand, during spring and autumn, the temperature starts to drop and even on the lower areas it can get under 10°C, while on the higher parts it goes below 0°C. Furthermore, one must except some form of precipitation in half of the days of these months. But thanks to the summertime time switch, there is no lack of sunshine, resulting in up to 15-16 hours of it in June, unless clouds might happen to hide the sun of course.

It is also worth mentioning that quite a few successful movies were shot in the surrounding mountains, such as XXX: Return of Xander Cage, Bergkristall and Yoko, to mention a few. All of these show that not only does the road provide value for the shoots, but also the landscape and infrastructure surrounding it. Quite a few successful German TV series have made the most of this, for example Die Bergretter and Der Bergdoktor, whose the crews have become recurring guests of these mountains, and so are such international companies, like Café Royal, which shot a short commercial with Robbie Williams at the 138 hectares large ski paradise, which can be approached by the Kaunertaler Road.

The function of the panorama road leading to the Kaunertaler glacier, differs largely from that of the Grossglockner, since while the latter connects two cities, the Kanunertaler is a one direction road to a glacier on the top of a mountain. Thereby it reaches higher than its “larger brother”, right up to 2750 meters, to which one can arrive on a magical route from its starting gate at 1270 meters. It is somewhat shorter than the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, since it is only 26 kilometres long with 29 bends and is quite narrower as well (about 7 meters in width).

The 6 kilometres long Gepatsch-Stausee lake is another of the road’s features, which is located alongside the hillier and straighter section of the panorama road, over which the windier mountainous section climbs the mountain’s Western side right up to the peak. This Gepatsch-Stausee lake is an artificial lake, which has a 600 meters and a 130 meters wide dam as well.

By contrast to the Grossglockner Road, an obvious advantage for the shoots that took place here are the opening times, since unlike the former, this is available throughout the year.

Its weather conditions are also more favourable than the Grossglockner Road since it has less rainy days, and between April and October, an average temperature of 20°C can be expected around 1200 meters and 15°C in higher areas. In the winter months, 5°C is normal in the lower regions, while the temperature is nearly always around zero in the higher areas. Also in accordance with this sufficiently high snow is ensured from October to May by the company running the ski resorts.

The road’s atmosphere and vibe is completely different than the Grossglockner’s. There are road signs only at the beginning of the section by the lake shore, further up the winding road there are none and the guardrail, when there are any at all, are of the older wooden type. Therefore, with these aspects and the fact, that there is a crack to be found on the road here and there, a more unique, slightly rugged feel is created compared to the more modern Grossglockner.

A large difference can also be noticed in the vegetation surrounding the roads, since while in the area around the Grossglockner only a few deciduous trees grow and mainly open areas dominate, here a lot more evergreens can be found right next to the side of the road, creating a lot more closed, private sense, but there are open parts to be found here as well.

The situation here with electricity lines is actually similar to the Grossglockner’s, neither do lampposts, nor cables ruin the view, and the similarity in the wildlife is also the case.

Since this road is somewhat smaller and closer to nature, one can not really find constructed resting places or stops that are suitable for constructing a large base on this road, apart from at its beginning and end, although smaller resting points can be erected at the starting points of the numerous hiking tracks or on the shores of the small lakes, the sight of which is made more rich with serpentine bends.

The road’s atmosphere is certainly determined by it being less known. We won't bump into crews shooting commercials for large car brands around every corner, enabling a much more personal feel and a completely different environment to the previous ones. Large green areas disappear and the road tightly wraps around the mountainside throughout almost the whole way, so the greenery consisting of nearly only evergreens tends to get close to the road, but there are also many open spaces as well, where we can make use of the sight given by rough rock faces, which is not ruined by even one lamppost or cable.

There is no constant width to the road, there are parts where two vehicles can fit comfortably, but there are also sections so narrow that there is hardly enough room for one car, but this diversity only heightens the location’s value further, since so many different possibilities are available in one place.

The road is kept in spotless condition, there are no road signs painted on it, but the tarmac’s quality is flawless and the guardrails are of a newer metal type. There are a few places alongside the road that are appropriate for making small bases, but since the panorama road is only 9 kilometres long, the Losenhütte which ends the road or the city at its beginning also provide ideal places for developing a larger base.

Since the road runs only on the Southern and South West side of the mountain, we never lose the stunning sight for a moment and the temperature is more agreeable as well due to being a lot lower. While it is open from May to October, the weather conditions can change a lot, even under a short period. The number of sunny hours and the amount of precipitation is very similar to those places previously mentioned, on average there is some form of precipitation on half of the number of days.

The road itself starts from the town of Altaussee, which is only 85 kilometres, that is an hour and a half’s drive away from Salzburg. But it would be a mistake to rent accommodation in Salzburg when there is a real choice of 4-star hotels with unmatched atmospheres and views by the shore of the picturesque Altaussee Lake, which is only a few minutes away from the gate signifying the beginning of the road.

The snowy mountain peaks and lush hills of the Alps have taken an outstanding place in public imagination all around the world since time immemorial, and thanks to these exceptional roads we can present people with such images, that perfectly represent what makes the Austrian mountains worthy of awe surrounding them. Let it be large scale productions or just a photoshoot lasting a few days, the panorama roads of the Alps are ready to take on any challenge.