page_title: Turracher Höhe Pass
section_title: Development of tourism
hierarchical_section_title: Turracher Höhe Pass / History / Development of tourism
caption_attribution_description: Liftwärterhäuschen an einem Schlepplift (Turracher Alpe?)
context_page_description: Turracher Höhe, also called Turracherhöhe, refers to a village, a pass across the Alps, and a countryside in the Gurktal Alps in Austria. The village and the Turracher Lake at the pass, which both share the same name, are separated by the border of the two federal states of Styria and Carinthia. Because of its distance to early settlement areas and its high location, the region was not settled until relatively late. In the 17th century, mining was started below the Turracherhöhe. The opening up of the top of the pass by a paved road did not occur until later. During the 20th century, the region was gradually developed for tourism. Efforts are being made to maintain the
  diversity of flora and fauna of the Turracherhöhe by means of landscape conservation areas and careful and nature-oriented extension of the tourist facilities.
context_section_description: In the 19th century, the first housing was built on the pass summit at the Turracher Lake. It served as accommodations, as well as for serving the lumberjacks, stonemasons and miners. Thus, it is known that at the provably oldest inn still existing today on the Turracher Höhe, the "Seewirt", there was already an Alpine public house in operation in 1830. Already at the end of the 19th century, the first tourists came for hiking on the Turrach and shortly before the First World War, the first skiers came for extended ski trips. Little by little, other hotels and inns also opened, among which are the "Jägerwirt" (1905), "Siegel" (1911) and "Hochschober" (1929), which still exist today.
  It has not been recorded when an old mountain track was converted into a road. On the south side, it is known that the stone "Teufelsbrücke" (Devil's Bridge) was built over the ravine of the Stangenbach in 1893. Between the wars, the streets, which already at that time essentially had the same course they have today, were adapted to the demands of modern automobile traffic. On the south side, bus service was established in 1928, and the bus line Predlitz–Passhöhe followed in the north in 1929. However, the first tourists were nevertheless forced to walk for kilometres to their quarters on the Turracher Höhe in the winter, since the buses could not manage the steep climb under winter conditions. The first private holiday home was erected on a small hill on the north side of Turracher Lake in 1936.
  In the winter after the Second World War, the first English tourists already came to Carinthia,
  which was occupied by the British troops. They were quartered in the seized businesses of Siegel, Hochschober, Jägerwirt and in the small holiday home. In 1946, a T-bar lift was built at about the same height as today's Kornockbahn and it was at first reserved for use by the English. Because of that, a lift on the Turracher Alpe is still called "Engländerlift" (Englishman's Lift) today. In the 1950s, the first single chairlift came, and the Panorambahn, as well. It was replaced in 1983 by a new single chairlift. This was also replaced in September 2006 by a new combination chairlift/cabin-lift. In 1966, the "Pauli Schlepplift" went into operation, named for Paul Pertl, which is still there today. A ski tow on the beginner's meadow was also added. In December 1976, the double chairlift, "Kornockbahn", opened, which was replaced with a six-person chairlift equipped with heated seats. The newest acquisition is the new stone pine forest six-person lift, as of 2006/2007.
  As of the 1970s, the crowd of winter athletes on the Turracher Höhe increased and as a result, the gradient of the federal road was evened out little by little by adjustments of the route. From 1978 until 1980, a new section of the road, which had been affected time and again by avalanches, was opened on the Kornock above the old road, with avalanche barriers.
  The steepest Alpine road in Europe at times, with a gradient of up to 34% at kilometre 60 (reckoned from Klagenfurt), was also sometimes a test stretch of the automobile manufacturer, Porsche, produced after the Second World War in nearby Gmünd in Carinthia, because of its high demands on automobiles. In January 1978, Audi presented the newly developed Audi Quattro to the company leadership on the Turracher Höhe, where the performance of the new all-wheel drive could be convincingly demonstrated on the steep, curvy and snowy road of the pass.
  The pass road has a maximum gradient of "only" 23% today on a short section on the Carinthian side. It is well cleared in the winter and only has to be closed very rarely.
caption: Ski lift attendant's hut at the end of a T-bar lift
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