Umhausen is a municipality in the Imst district of state of Tyrol in western Austria. It and is located 17 km southeast of Imst at the Ötztaler Ache in the Ötztal. It has 3078 inhabitants.
Geography
The municipality consists of six villages:
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Umhausen
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Tumpen
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Köfels
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Farst
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Niederthai
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Östen
Umhausen is located at the intersection of the Stubai Alps and the Ötztal Alps. The lowest point is in Tumpen (920m), the highest peak of the municipality is the Strahlkogel, at . Its name comes from its great, white, light-reflecting, quartz layers, which allegedly cause the mountain to "radiate" ( strahlen). It has the shape of a well-proportioned, steep and pointed pyramid. Ascending the Strahlkogel is difficult and it is thus only rarely visited, unlike the neighbouring 3,287-metre-high Breiter Grieskogel.
Climate
Economy
Umhausen was once a centre for cultivation of
flax.
Today the main source of income is tourism. In the area of the community lies the tallest waterfall of Tyrol at 150 metres of height. The economy in Umhausen is a bit smaller than the economy in Längenfeld. It is supported by local craft enterprises. Moreover, the Vivea Gesundheitshotel Umhausen opened in 2011, which plays a large role in the local economy.
Landslide
The Köfels landslide was a gigantic landslide, known as a
sturzstrom, that occurred in the Ötz valley 9800±100 years ago according to radiocarbon dating of trees buried by the event.
[Ivy-Ochs S, Heuberger H, Kubik PW, Kerschner H, Bonani G, Frank M, and Schlüchter C. (1998). The age of the Köfels event — relative, 14C, and cosmogenic isotope dating of an early Holocene landslide in the central Alps (Tyrol, Austria). Zeitschrift für Gletscherkunde und Glazialgeologie, (34):57–70.] It involved a 2.5 km horizontal displacement and 800 m vertical displacement of 3.2 km
3 of rock and mud along the Ötz valley floor, making it the third largest known sturzstrom.
[Sørensena, SA and Bauer, B (15 August 2003). On the dynamics of the Köfels sturzstrom. Geomorphology, 54(1–2):11–19.][Prager C, Zangerl C, Patzelt G, and Brandner R (2008). Age distribution of fossil landslides in the Tyrol (Austria) and its surrounding areas. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 8:377–407.]
Population
Hedwig von Trapp / The Sound of Music
Hedwig von Trapp, a member of the singing
Trapp Family, lived and worked as a music teacher in Farst, above Umhausen. She moved there in the 1960s to treat her asthma. The school building is still present.
External links
