Well, here we go, we’re finally hitting the Alps. That means it’s time to meet the…

…at 12,461 feet (3,798 metres) the highest elevation in Austria. The mountain in fact features dual peaks, the titular Grossglockner, and the slightly lower Kleinglockner.

Somehow, Alpine peaks in the German-speaking regions of Europe often have names that, from an English-speaking perspective, sound terrifically awesome. See the Eiger, the Finsteraarhorn, etc. “Grossglockner” means either “great bell” or “great mountain” depending on whether the suffix is German (glocke – “bell”) or originally a Slavic word for mountain.

The Wikipedia article has this amazing paragraph on the initial ascent of the mountain:

Inspired by Hacquet’s book and by the first ascent of the Mont Blanc in 1786, the Gurk prince-bishop Count Franz Xaver of Salm (1749–1822) together with his vicar general Sigismund Ernst Hohenwart (1745–1825) and Baron Franz Xaver von Wulfen (1728–1805) started efforts for a Grossglockner expedition. They engaged two peasants from Heiligenblut as mountain guides to do the first explorations for an ascent through the Leitertal valley, which is the side of Grossglockner with the least ice (people feared glaciers in these times). These valiant men, called “Glockners” in the records, did more than they were ordered to do—and probably reached the Kleinglockner summit on 23 July 1799.