Untersberg

The Untersberg is the Berchtesgaden Alps’ northernmost massif, a notable spur spanning the boundary between Berchtesgaden, Germany and Salzburg, Austria. The highest point of the table-top mountain is the Berchtesgaden Hochthron, which stands at 1,973 meters (6,473 feet).

The landmark earned international popularity as the “distinctive, lopsided peak” featured in the beginning and end of the 1965 film The Sound of Music, despite the fact that filming took place on the German side rather than the Austrian side. It was the location where Julie Andrews sang The Hills Are Alive in the opening sequence and where the family ascended the mountain to flee to Switzerland at the end of the film.

The mountain is also named after Johann Nepomuk von Poißl (1783-1865), who wrote the opera Der Untersberg in 1829.

The Untersberg rises on the margin of the Northern Limestone Alps, directly adjacent to the Salzburg Basin and the vast Salzach Valley. The Hoher Göll in the southeast and Mt. Watzmann in the south, outside the Berchtesgaden Basin, are neighboring summits. The Saalach Valley with Bad Reichenhall separates it from the Hochstaufen range of the Chiemgau Alps in the northwest. Two-thirds of the region is in Germany, including the Berchtesgaden Hochthron mountain, while the northernmost sharp edge above Salzburg is in Austria.

The mountain is a popular tourist destination due to its proximity to the city of Salzburg: it is less than 16 kilometers (9.9 mi) south of the city center and is easily accessible, for example, through bus lines operating to the southern suburbs of Grödig and Großgmain.

There are several routes that lead to the summit, but most tourists choose the Untersbergbahn cable car. The eight and a half minute journey lifts passengers from the lower terminus at the village of Sankt Leonhard at 456 m (1,496 ft) over 1,320 m (4,330 ft) to the top station on the Geiereck spur at an altitude of 1,776 m (5,827 ft), transporting them a horizontal distance of nearly 2.5 km (1.6 mi) with a maximum height above the ground of 286 m (938 ft).

Eberwein, a member of the Augustinian monastery in Berchtesgaden, made the first recorded climb in the first part of the 12th century.