Drei Schwestern, Mountain formation on Austria-Liechtenstein border.
Drei Schwestern is a mountain formation with three summits rising to 2053 meters, located in the Rätikon range. It forms a natural border between Vorarlberg, Austria, and Planken, Liechtenstein.
The main summit was first climbed for tourism on 10 June 1870 by the Scottish alpinist John Sholto Douglass, accompanied by the hunter Wieser from Frastanz; hunters may have reached it earlier. In 1897/98 the Drei-Schwestern-Steig was built from the Kurhaus Gaflei at the suggestion of the German and Austrian Alpine Club, its first section, the Fürstensteig, paid for by Prince Johann II.
The three summits carry names rooted in Alpine regional traditions: Great Sister, Middle Sister, and Little Sister. These names reflect how people in this area perceive and describe their landscape.
The mountain is accessible via an established network of hiking paths suitable for various fitness levels. The Gafadura Hut at 1428 meters provides lodging and supplies for hikers and mountaineers.
On the descent north from the summits, the path passes through a rock window with a sheer drop view onto the Rhine Valley, over 1,500 m below. Hikers ascending from that side also pass through this gap. The Drei Schwestern are the westernmost summits on the 1,200 km Zentralalpenweg long-distance trail from Hainburg to Feldkirch.
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