History of the Noth footbridge

Getting from the centre of Gams to the Krautgraben used to be anything but easy. The quickest way was via the Nothsteg. Old views show that this was in fact no more than a few planks, a handrail on one side, and nothing but raging water on the other. The path through the gorge was therefore not without danger. In Gams, the story is told that an entire wedding party fell into the stream after sealing the covenant for life, probably not quite sober. However, this is not true. However, commemorative plaques from that time bear witness to fatal accidents, such as that of Maria Furtner, who fell into the stream and drowned in 1908.

Origin of the Nothklamm

The Noth owes its formation to water and rock. The Gamsbach washes large quantities of stones through its bed. At normal water levels, they are only a few centimetres in size, but at high water, metre-sized boulders are dragged along. During the last big flood in 2002, a huge block that is part of the geo-path as an “animal cemetery” was shifted by more than a metre in this way. All stones, no matter how big, leave traces in the stream bed. This is because the valley becomes deeper and deeper as a result of the grinding of the bedrock. Although only by fractions of a millimetre a year, the Noth has been formed over a period of at least 600,000 years, since the beginning of the Ice Age in the Alps. Originally, the warm source of the Noth was also located at the top of the Annerbauernkogel. As the Noth deepened further, the spring also migrated downwards to its present location. The rock also plays an important role. In order for the steep and even overhanging walls to remain, it must be hard and solid. In the Noth, it is the Dachstein limestone that also builds the famous climbing walls of the Gesäuse.

It is precisely the narrowness of the gorge and the wildness of the water that make the Noth one of the most important natural spectacles in Styria. It was therefore declared a natural monument in 1972.