Hotel Garni Maximilian

Zillertal and its "Gründe"

by Anjutka

I had liked to call this page Zillertal but this does not exist in VT database. But most of that what I am presenting here is at the territory of Marhofen which is the main touristic centre in the famous Zillertal valley. When entering this valley from north it does not look too much different as compared to the Lower Inn valley - heavy traffic, tight settlement, plenty of small industries and tourism on the slopes above it.

But around Marhofen the valley splits up into several picturesque side valleys. All these valleys are named "Grund" (Zillergrund, Stilluppgrund, etc) and they are aceessible via sometimes quite adventurous roads and end right below the glaciers..

"Waterstorages and power stations"

Much of today's relatively comfortable accessibility of the Zillertal side-valleys around Mayrhofen is due to the system of hydro-elecric power stations built here. The moutains around enjoy high precipitaions, in particular in summer, and this water is excessively used to produce electricity to cover the peaks of the demand in Europe because other than caloric and nuclear power stations these stations can be switched on and off within a few minutes and when Europe produces (in the quiet late night hours) more electricity than it is needed the surplus will be used to pump the water up again from a lower storage into a higher one. So one and the same water is often used four or more times. The picture (please enlarge!) can give you an idea of the whole system here in the Zillertal Alps.