Windauer Ache

Windauer Ache

The diagram shows the course of the Windauer Ache, which flows in a northerly direction - from the Salzburg border to Hopfgarten.

Data
Location in the Windautal / Kitzbühel Alps,  Austria
Length 21 km
Source Rainkarsee on the Kröndlhorn
Source height 2,200 m AA
Mouth In Haslau / Hopfgarten into the Brixentaler Ache
Mouth height 630 m AA
Descent 1,570 m
Basin Danube
Progression Brixentaler Ache → Inn → Danube → Black Sea
Catchment Windautal
Right tributaries Miesenbach, Rettenbach
Left tributaries Falberbach, Dürrnbach
Lakes passed Reinkarsee
Villages Westendorf and Hopfgarten

The Windauer Ache is a mountain stream in the scenic Windautal valley in the Kitzbühel Alps in Austria.

The Ache rises on the Rainkarsee at about 2,200 m AMSL and its middle reaches run through a roughly 4 km long gorge. In Hopfgarten the Windauer Ache discharges into the Brixentaler Ache at a narrow point in the valley; the Brixentaler Ache in turn empties into the River Inn at Wörgl.

The Ache flows through the municipalities of Westendorf and Hopfgarten.

The Windauer Ache is very popular for whitewater canoeing (grade WW II to WW V).

High water

At the end of July 2006, bad weather in the entire Windau valley caused enormous damage. The Windauer Ache burst its banks and bridges, linings and sections of road were torn away.

The cost of repairing the damage - and the associated lining and regulation of the river - ran to some € 860,000.