The Seefeld Saddle ( German : Seefelder Sattel ) is a saddle and mountain pass , 1,185 m (AA) , in the Northern Limestone Alps in the Austrian federal state of Tyrol . Two major transport routes run over it: the Seefelder Straße (B 177) and the Mittenwald Railway . On the Seefeld Plateau north of the saddle lies the village and ski resort of Seefeld in Tirol ( 1,180 m (AA) ).
16-908: The Seefeld Saddle lies west of the Erlspitze Group (max. 2,405 m (AA) ), a sub-range of the Karwendel Alps, and east of the Mieminger Range (max. 2,768 m (AA) ). To the south the terrain descends via the Zirler Berg down to the Inn valley , to the north of the plateau lie the Wetterstein Mountains (max. 2,962 m (AA) ) and the Arnspitze Group (max. 2,196 m (AA) ). The actual pass height
32-474: A Roman milestone near Partenkirchen ; in addition the two most famous Roman road maps, the Itinerarium Antonini and Tabula Peutingeriana name this road as a primary military and trading route. The route was heavily used and probably built as a trafficable road. Remains of this Roman road may be seen near Klais , a section of sunken road there is still visible today with ruts worn into
48-718: A consequence of the rapid erosion of individual rock strata . Its valley bases are Hochzirl , Reith , Seefeld and Scharnitz , all of which are on the Innsbruck - Mittenwald section of the Mittenwald Railway . Two alpine club huts act as bases for tours in the area of the Erlspitze Group: in the west is the Nördlinger Hut and, in the south, is the Solsteinhaus . In the northern part of
64-790: Is bounded in the west by the Seefeld Basin, in the east by the valleys of the Gleirschtal and the Großes Kristental; its forested northern foothills reach as far as Scharnitz . Unlike the four main ranges of the Karwendel, the Erlspitze Group is made of Main Dolomite . Typical of this rock are bizarre weathering forms, like towers , pinnacles and sharply formed arêtes as well as rock arches and caves as
80-717: Is next to the municipal boundary between Seefeld and Reith to the south in the subdistrict of Auland on agricultural land southeast of the Wildsee lake and north-northwest of the junction of the Landesstraße 36 and the Seefelder Straße (B 177). East of the saddle rise the Reither Spitze ( 2,374 m (AA) ) and the Seefeld Spitze ( 2,221 m (AA) ) to its north. To
96-569: Is situated in the Valley of the river Isar , by the northern foothills of the Alps, on the route between the old banking and commercial centre of Augsburg , to the north, and Innsbruck to the south-east, beyond which is the Brenner Pass and the route to Lombardy , another region with a rich commercial past and present. Mittenwald, along with Garmisch-Partenkirchen to the west, was acquired by
112-544: The Prince-Bishopric of Freising in the late 14th century and the "crowned Aethiopian" head that is part of Mittenwald's coat of arms recalls that 400-year association that ended when the Prince-Bishopric was secularized in 1802-03 and its territory annexed to Bavaria . Mittenwald's location as an important transit centre on a relatively low and predictable Mountain pass has been a defining feature of
128-603: The Seefelder Straße passing through Seefeld and heading for Telfs in the Inn valley. A particularly winding section of the Karwendel Railway with many tunnels runs over the Seefeld Saddle roughly parallel to the Seefelder Straße . The line runs from Innsbruck via Seefeld and Mittenwald to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and has several stations or halts including Reith, Seefeld and Scharnitz. The Romans built
144-616: The Via Raetia , a connecting road to Augusta Vindelicorum ( Augsburg ) over the Brenner Pass to Veldidena (today Innsbruck - Wilten ) and continued it over the Seefeld Saddle and through the Scharnitz Pass . Unlike the Seefeld Saddle, the Scharnitz Pass is not a mountain pass, however, but more of a gorge. The Isar valley narrows as a result of the foothills of the Arnspitze Group near Scharnitz and gives travellers
160-606: The Austro-German border, crossing the Scharnitz Pass , from where it continues in Germany as the B 2 running past Mittenwald via Garmisch-Partenkirchen as far as Gartz (Oder) . In the area of the eastern bypass around Seefeld the road reaches a height of more than 1,220 m north of the saddle near the junction of Seefeld-Mitte . At Auland, south of the saddle, the Landesstraße 36 state road branches off
176-627: The Danube tributary, the Isar. The Seefelder Straße (B 177) runs over the Seefeld Saddle. It approaches from the southeast from Zirl in the Inn valley (with a junction at Innsbruck with the A12 or B 171 ) over the south and east flanks of the Zirler Berg (with a gradient of up to 16%) through Reith and Seefeld and then heads northeast to the village of Scharnitz on the River Isar by
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#1732787467166192-678: The Erlspitze Group are two huts open in summer: the Oberbrunnalm and, in the Eppzirler Tal, the Eppzirler Alm . Important peaks (by height) Mittenwald Mittenwald ( German pronunciation: [ˈmɪtn̩ˌvalt] ) is a German municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen , in Bavaria . Mittenwald is located approximately 16 kilometres to the south-east of Garmisch-Partenkirchen . It
208-555: The area for at least two thousand years. Mittenwald is famous for the manufacture of violins , violas and cellos which began in the mid-17th century by the Klotz workshop . Matthias I Klotz founded the Mittenwald school of violin making. Aegidius Klotz is believed to have crafted the personal violin of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . Eduard Melkus played on an unaltered violin by Aegidius Klotz. The most significant landmark in
224-467: The impression of a gate (Lat. porta ) compared with the valley floors on either side that broaden out in the direction of Mittenwald and Seefeld respectively. The protect their road the Romans built the settlement of Mansio Scarbia at the Scharnitz Pass, from which the name Scharnitz is derived. The importance of the way of the Seefeld Saddle and through the Scharnitz Pass is evinced by the discovery of
240-741: The surface. Erlspitze Group The Erlspitze Group ( German : Erlspitzgruppe ), also called the Seefeld Group, is the southwesternmost side range of the Austrian part of the Karwendel mountains in the Alps . It forms a horseshoe-shaped highland around the valley of Eppzirler Tal and is joined in the south to the Nordkette by the Erl Saddle ( Erlsattel ) near Solsteinhaus . It
256-868: The west is the Gschwandtkopf ( 1,495 m (AA) ). The Seefeld Saddle is located on the watershed between the Inn and Isar rivers. Whilst the water of the Mühlbach northeast of Auland drains through the Niederbach southwards into the Danube tributary of the Inn, the waters of the Raabach and Haglbach flow through the Seebach (draining the Wildsee) as the Drahnbach and Gießenbach northeast into
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