Early start

Großglockner title

The two Wallack milling machines meet at the Hochtor.(Bild: JFK)

More snow than in previous winters, partly because it snowed a lot again recently. Nevertheless, the breakthrough on the Grossglockner High Alpine Road has been successful. From tomorrow, Saturday, the road in the Hohe Tauern National Park will be open to traffic.

The same procedure as every year - or so you might think: The famous Wallack milling machines from the 1950s have cleared the Großglockner High Alpine Road of snow again over the past few weeks.  

Even though the weather in the valleys was already summery in places, the snow clearing crews on the Grossglockner High Alpine Road had to contend with much more snow than in previous years and particularly challenging weather conditions.

Clear road for vacation traffic
However, the rotary plows, which Franz Wallack had specially designed for clearing the Glockner Road, met without complications for the annual breakthrough at the Hochtor. The clearing teams from both sides have been working their way forward bit by bit over the past few days.

The panoramic road will reopen to traffic tomorrow, Saturday. The Grossglockner High Alpine Road recently hit the headlines because the operating company, in which the province of Salzburg also holds a stake, proposed and advertised the road through the national park as an A10 traffic jam avoidance route for vacation traffic. 

The 48 km long road has 36 hairpin bends and leads up to just over 2500 meters above sea level. The start on the Salzburg side is in Fusch-Ferleiten.