History of the Waterfall Trail

As far back as 1835 Ignaz von Kürsinger ordered the construction of stairs on the left bank of the river up to

the upper edge of the lowest fall to make it possible for visitors to see more of the Krimml Waterfalls without major effort.

The new Krimml Waterfall Trail
of the Warnsdorf Section
In 1900 the Warnsdorf Section started to build a new Waterfall Trail, as the existing one was in a very bad condition. Moreover, the annual number of visitors had increased to “thousands and ten thousands of people” since the opening of the Pinzgau railway line. Construc-

tion costs were estimated to 20,000 Kronen. The basic structure of the new Waterfall Trail with more than 4000 m in length and an altitude difference of more than 400 m was completed in the second half of November. In the opening ceremony the Section thanked all those who

had financed the trail – the Association, the community

of Krimml, the Sparcasse Zell am See, the Imperial-

Royal Railway Ministry and all the “noble nature lovers”. However, the following text passage makes it clear that not everything had gone off without a hitch, and that empty pockets are not only a present-day phenomenon: “… and much to our regret we had to notice that the Province of Salzburg did not grant the requested subsidy of 2500 Kronen last year. However, a notification of the provincial committee has assured us that an application for subsidy has to be deferred because of financial pressure only for the time being, so that we don’t give up hope of still being granted some subsidy from the provincial government.”

1967
Awarding of the
European Diploma of Protected Areas
by the Council of Europe for the Krimml Waterfalls.

1983
Establishing the ”Hohe Tauern National Park”
in the Province of Salzburg.

1984
Opening of the „Alpine Trail Krimmler Tauern
”Alpine Trail Krimmler Tauern Trail”
By then the whole transport of goods had to be carried out via the Krimml Waterfall Trail on horse-drawn vehicles, tricycles or all-terrain vehicles of the type “Puch Haflinger”. Since 1984 the Waterfall Trail has been closed to all traffic

1993

Construction of disabled-friendly access

to the lowest waterfall. Visitor numbers reached a maximum unequalled by then: 696,115 visitors each

year. Day’s peak: 10,090 visitors on 28 July 1992.

1997
Opening of National Park Information Centre
Krimml Waterfalls
on the open-air ground opposite to the house of the Alpine Association.