IN.KLANG: PROAS

The alpine landscape in the Upper Court has always demanded a lot from its inhabitants. The settlement of the "core of the Eastern Alps" has always been characterized by playing with the limits of what is possible. Only those who live in harmony with nature have a chance, because nature is stronger.

In Pfunds there is a special place where this interaction has left particularly clear marks to this day – Proas.

It forms the absolute end of the permanent settlement area facing the mountain. Probably not least because of its remoteness, ancient elements have been preserved here. The name "Proas" derives from the Romance word "parei," which means "wall." Although the Pfunds district farther down the valley is also called "Wand" today, it already bears a German or Bavarian and thus much younger name. Inside, up above, the much older, almost archaic name has persisted to this day.

Here, cultural land was created, natural patches on meadows were enlarged, and alpine turf was farmed up to high altitudes, which formed the livelihood of the "Proasers."

Daily life "in the wall" brought some hardships. As soon as the children of the farms learned to walk, they had to be tied to a post to prevent falling down the ravine.

Later, on the school route, which took over an hour, they had to cross seven avalanche tracks on foot – often school attendance in winter was missed.

Special challenges of this steep location also had to be considered in managing the farms. For example, in winter, hay could only be brought to the farm from some barns at night because the avalanche danger during the day in the softened snow was too great. Also, on the steep meadows above the houses, the snow was packed down to prevent avalanches.

Around 1900, these difficulties ultimately became too much for the residents. The last "Proaser" left the farms.

However, the essential, life-giving part of the Proas farms has not been abandoned. To this day, the Proaser mountain meadows are farmed by extremely tradition-conscious farmers from Pfunds. To this day, this is manual labor due to the location and steepness, there is still no access road, only a path and a material cable car. And to this day, an ancient, intact alpine cultural landscape with an incredible variety of plant and insect species lives here.

Financial support by the European Regional Development Fund within the framework of the Interreg V-A Italy-Austria 2014-2020 program.