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27-684: The Pyramidenspitze is a mountain, 1,998 metres high, of the Kaisergebirge in the Austrian state of Tyrol . The Pyramidenspitze is only the second highest summit in the Zahmer Kaiser after the largely unknown, 2,002-metre-high (6,568 ft) Vordere Kesselschneid , but is the most well-known and most frequently climbed. To the south and west of the Pyramidenspitze is a high, karstified plateau, covered with mountain pine , which falls steeply into

54-637: A door snail , and a number of spiders and butterflies . Typical vertebrates are the alpine and fire salamanders , smooth snake , viper (unusual color variants), edible dormouse , hazel dormouse and bank vole . In higher regions there are chamois , stoat , snow vole and mountain hare . Typical birds are wood warbler , the red-breasted flycatcher (for North Tyrol endemic ), alpine chough , raven , crag martin , alpine willow tit , lesser redpoll ( Carduelis linaria rufescens ), alpine accentor , alpine wallcreeper and black grouse - capercaillie and rock ptarmigan . Raptors occurring in

81-482: A community) and flora (the taxonomic composition of a community) was first made by Jules Thurmann (1849). Prior to this, the two terms were used interchangeably. Plants are grouped into floras based on region ( floristic regions ), period, special environment, or climate. Regions can be distinct habitats like mountain vs. flatland. Floras can mean plant life of a historic era as in fossil flora . Lastly, floras may be subdivided by special environments: The flora of

108-523: A long but worthwhile path that runs past the Naunspitze (1,633 m), Petersköpfl (1,745 m) and Einserkogel (1,924 m) that leads to the summit cross without any real difficulties in 2.5 hours. More challenging is the northern route which departs from Durchholzen . As far as the Winkel cirque the path is problem-free, but from there on there is a klettersteig (A/B) to the summit. The walking time

135-647: A long time, the construction of a road into the Kaisertal valley was hotly contested as it was the only inhabited valley in Austria without road access. The Kaisertal road, which now runs from Ebbs through the Anna Tunnel (813 m long) into the Kaisertal, was opened on 31 May 2008. It was built by the parish of Ebbs as a private road for use only by a very narrow group of beneficiaries: residents, farmers, authorities and organisations with safety functions. The flora and fauna of

162-406: A particular area or time period can be documented in a publication also known as a " flora " (often capitalized as "Flora" to distinguish the two meanings when they might be confused). Floras may require specialist botanical knowledge to use with any effectiveness. Traditionally they are books , but some are now published on CD-ROM or websites . Simon Paulli 's Flora Danica of 1648 is probably

189-403: Is then derived from a metonymy of this goddess at the end of the sixteenth century. It was first used in poetry to denote the natural vegetation of an area, but soon also assumed the meaning of a work cataloguing such vegetation. Moreover, "Flora" was used to refer to the flowers of an artificial garden in the seventeenth century. The distinction between vegetation (the general appearance of

216-565: Is three hours in total. In places there is a risk of major rockfalls on this route. Kaisergebirge The Kaiser Mountains are divided into the Wilder Kaiser or Wild Kaiser chain of mountains, formed predominantly of bare limestone rock, and the Zahmer Kaiser ("Tame Kaiser"), whose southern side is mainly covered by mountain pine . These two mountain ridges are linked by the 1,580-metre-high Stripsenjoch pass, but are separated in

243-542: The alpine meadows . In the subalpine region we find the typical dwarf shrub types such as mountain pine and alpenrose , and the rare dwarf alpenrose . Alpine polsterrasen ("cushion grasslands") are found all the way up to the summit areas. There are various wetlands also stocked with typical plants. As a product of ice age processes the Kaiser is also home to a number of rare, partly endemic invertebrates, such as Allobobophora smaragdina (a yellow-green earthworm ),

270-631: The First World War influenced climbing in the Kaiser until the 1960s. In 1977, grade VII climbing was introduced with the free ascent of the Pumprisse by Reinhard Karl and Helmut Kiene on the Fleischbank. In the 1970s and 1980s a whole range of sometimes extremely difficult sport climbing routes were opened in the Kaiser mountains. The most difficult currently is "The Emperor's New Clothes" route ( Des Kaisers neue Kleider , grade X+) by Stefan Glowacz on

297-505: The Fleischbank pinnacle. The Kaiser borders on the following other mountain groups in the Alps: Kufstein , Ebbs , Durchholzen , Kiefersfelden , Walchsee , Kössen , Schwendt , Kirchdorf in Tirol , St. Johann in Tirol , Going , Ellmau , Scheffau , Söll Flora Flora ( pl. : floras or florae ) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally

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324-511: The Kaiser are the northern goshawk , Eurasian sparrowhawk , golden eagle , tawny owl , pygmy owl and Tengmalm's owl . The Kaiser is part of the Northern Limestone Alps and consists mainly of Wetterstein limestone and dolomite . The Wetterstein limestone has a maximum thickness of about 1000 m, which corresponds to the maximum height of the rock faces ( Felsabbrüche ) of the Kaiser. The younger dolomites are mainly found in

351-418: The Kaiser began in the second half of the 19th century. Most of the documented first ascents of its summits date from that time until the turn of the century. It is likely, however, that most of the peaks had already been climbed from time to time by local herders and poachers, without any records having been kept. The time from the late 19th century to the First World War was a period when the limestone faces of

378-474: The Kaisertal in the Middle Ages date back at least to 1430. There is a purchase agreement from that year for a farm called Hinterkaiser . The name "Kaiser" for the area is older and already appears by 1240 in a Kitzbühel directory of goods which speaks of a Gamsgiayt an dem Chaiser . In 1611 there is an annotation to a picture in the maps of Matthias Burgklehner that states "There is in the dominion of Kufstein

405-543: The Kayser, a very high mountain range, which is just like an imperial crown, on account of its many peaks, and also because it appears from an altitude and miles away as if it is round and crowned." (original: "Es ist in der Herrschaft Khueffstein der Kayser, ein sehr hoches Gepürg, so einer kaiserlichen Cron gleich ist, seiner vilfeltigen Zinggen halber, dann auch, dass er in der Heche vil Meils Wegs weit, als ob er rund und gekrönt ware, gesehen wird." ) The touristic development of

432-593: The Wilder Kaiser is the Ellmauer Halt in the borough of Kufstein at 2,344 metres (7,690 ft). There are around forty other summits, including many well-known climbing peaks such as the Karlspitzen , Totenkirchl , Fleischbank , Predigtstuhl , Goinger Halt , Ackerlspitze and Maukspitze . As early as the 1920s individual nature lovers, including the "Emperor Pope", Franz Nieberl, called for greater protection of

459-428: The Wilder Kaiser were the cradle of Munich's climbing scene, when well-known climbing pioneers like Hans Dülfer developed entirely new climbing techniques and styles. Other well-known climbers from various periods who opened new routes on the Kaiser are Paul Preuss , Matthias Rebitsch, Hermann Buhl , and Alexander Huber . The sometimes highly technology-centric climbing styles and techniques developed mainly before

486-517: The far west of the mountain range is Lake Hinterstein which is used as a bathing lake. The first dated evidence of human settlement in the Kaiser Mountains goes back 4000 to 5000 years. These are discoveries of the remains of Stone Age hunters in the Tischofer Cave . Other discoveries have revealed the presence of Bronze Age settlers in the cave. Documentary evidence of human settlement in

513-587: The first book titled "Flora" to refer to the plant world of a certain region. It mainly describes medicinal plants growing in Denmark. The Flora Sinensis by the Polish Jesuit Michał Boym is another early example of a book titled "Flora". However, despite its title it covered not only plants but also some animals of the region, that is China and India. A published flora often contains diagnostic keys. Often these are dichotomous keys , which require

540-513: The naturally occurring ( indigenous ) native plants. The corresponding term for animals is fauna , and for fungi , it is funga . Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora as in the terms gut flora or skin flora . The word "flora" comes from the Latin name of Flora , the goddess of plants , flowers , and fertility in Roman mythology . The technical term "flora"

567-525: The nature reserve is very rich. In the Kaiser Mountains there are about 940 different flowering plants, 38 different species of fern and over 400 different mosses . The colonies of fungi and lichen are very rich, with 100 and 236 different species respectively being represented. The forest region comprises mainly mixed forest with beech , fir and spruce . In the submontane area there are also ash and sycamore maple , and, in sunny areas, alder . Hay meadows, poor grassland and pastures are typical of

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594-785: The south, in the area west of the so-called Ellmauer Tor , by the Weißache - which also drains into the Inn; and to the east of the Ellmauer Tor (watershed) by the Goinger Hausbach and Rettenbach, both of which flow into the Reither Ache, another tributary of the Großache. Between Fleischbank and the Goinger Halt is a small cirque glacier that will probably disappear soon as average temperatures rise. In

621-530: The territories of the municipalities of Kufstein, St. Johann in Tirol, Ebbs , Ellmau , Going , Kirchdorf in Tirol , Scheffau and Walchsee . The height of the nature reserve's terrain ranges from 480 m up to 2344 m at the summit of the Ellmauer Halt. The only man-made lift in the protected area is the chair lift to the Brentenjoch saddle. Other lift projects were not realized because of the nature reserve. For

648-524: The unique natural region of the Kaiser. The primary aim of this protection was to prevent over development of the Kaiser Mountains by cable cars and roads. In those days such ideas were unsuccessful. In 1961, following a referendum, it was decided to establish a nature reserve , which was officially opened on 19 April 1963. The reserve, which covered all the peaks of the Wilder and Zahmer Kaiser, has an area of 102 square kilometres (39 sq mi) and lies within

675-773: The valley hollows. Extensive moraine fields are a remnant of the Würm glaciation . The Kaiser Mountains are drained in the west by the Sparchenbach , which flows through the Kaisertal and later empties into the Inn ; in the east by the Kaiserbach, which flows through the Kaiserbachtal and discharges into the Großache which in turn flows into the Chiemsee lake; in the north by the Weissenbach and in

702-646: The valley of the Kaisertal and has a long arête with several summits extending towards Kufstein . To the north it is separated by a wind gap from the Jovenspitze. To the northwest the Pyramidenspitze drops steeply over the Eggersgrinn and to the northeast it drops down rock precipices into the Winkel cirque ( Winkelkar ). The Pyramidenspitze may be reached from the west from the Vorderkaiserfelden Hut over

729-539: The west by the valley of Kaisertal and in the east by the Kaiserbach valley . In total the Kaiser extends for about 20 km (12 mi) in an east-west direction and about 14 km (8.7 mi) from north to south, giving a total area of some 280 square kilometres (110 sq mi). The Zahmer Kaiser only just breaks through the 2,000 metre barrier (in the Vordere Kesselschneid ). The highest elevation in

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