Schneekragen

A schneekragen (German for snow collar) or schneehals (snow neck) was a safety corridor characteristic for alpine mining. Covered with lumbers or roundwood, it guaranteed for a somewhat avalanche-safe access to the adits during winter. Furthermore it protected the miners from cornices and ensured the passage of deep snow areas.[1] Miners houses, workshops and processing plants were often connected through a system of schneekragens with the adits, so the miners did not have to shovel. The corridors, often built of dry stone, bareley reached man-high and had to be crossed cowered down or crawling.[2][3] Because the entries were sometimes covered by cornices some schneekragens kept impassable and dynamite chests like other heavy equipment normally transported with horses had to be dragged through the danger zone.[4]

Exposed schneekragen in the Schladming Tauern, Austria

Examples of schneekragens revitalized for touristic purposes can be found in the former gold- and silver mining reviers of the valleys of Rauris and Gastein (both Austria) as well as in the South Tyrolian mining settlement St. Martin am Schneeberg.

Examples

  • Zinkwand-Vöttern mining trail, Schladming Tauern
  • Tauerngold mining trail at Neubau hut, Goldberg Group (Hohe Tauern)
  • Bockhart, Goldberg Group (Hohe Tauern)
  • Himmelreich mine, Schneeberg, Stubai Alps
  • Veitstollen, Schneeberg, Stubai Alps

References

  1. Albert von Muchar: Das Thal und Warmbad Gastein nach allen Beziehungen und Merkwürdigkeiten nach eigener Anschauung und zuverlässigen Quellen dargestellt für Aerzte, Körperkranke, Geschichtsforscher, Mineralogen, Metallurgen, Botaniker und für Freunde der hochromantischen Alpennatur. Damian und Sorge, Grätz 1834, 358 p. Online (in German).
  2. Naturfreunde Österreich & High Tauern National Park (Publisher): Information panel at Tauerngold mining trail. Photo (in German).
  3. Fritz Gruber. "Schneekragen am Bockhart" (in German). Via Aurea Wege des Tauerngoldes, e.V. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  4. "Erinnerungen von Josef Frohnwieser als Knappe am Rathausberg" (in German). Knappenmusikkapelle Radhausberg (first published in Gasteiner Badeblatt). Retrieved September 29, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.