Paragliding over Kaprun valley and visiting the high mountain reservoir and dam: Eurotrip Day 04
According to the Wikipedia article, the project was started by the Nazis at the beginning of 1939. There were generally bad working conditions and forced labor. The inscription on the memorial reads something like “From a work work and sacrifice”.
I thought this plaque was really cool. The Nazi’s barely got the project off the ground during the war, and afterwords the United States provided a billion dollars to finish the job.
USA! USA! USA!
You can see that the reservoir maintains a low level during summertime, despite year round snow on the mountain peaks.
The Mooserboden reservoir dam is really two dams, connected by a mountain in the middle. I walked along the top until I reached the building at the far side.
According to the diagram, this waterfall inlet gathers melt from the mountain tops.
Looking back.
I was about to head up the trail a bit when I heard a noise, and turned around to see some mountain goats! Here is a video of my encounter.
Hey thar.
I climbed up the trail and met the goats.
It was a fantastic view up here, and I only wish I had more time to climb higher up the mountain.
Here is a nice wide panorama.
This was as high as I got before realizing the last bus departed in only a half hour, and I certainly didn’t want to be trapped miles from town. I scurried back down the path and headed for the hill separating the two damns.
My biggest panorama of the day, this one shows both the upper and lower reservoirs. If I come back some day I will definitely visit during the winter and spend more time hiking around.
Me overlooking the lower reservoir, Wasserfallboden.
Yay the sun came out! Take two 🙂
