What is "bratschen"

Bratschen are weathering products that occur as a result of frost and aeolian corrasion almost exclusively on the calc- schists of the Upper Slate Mantle (Obere Schieferhülle) in the High Tauern mountains of Austria. The term is German.

The calc-schist, that appears blue-gray when freshly broken, weathers to a yellow to brown colour and flakes off on the surface to form Bratschen. These form steep (up to 40°), rocky, almost unvegetated mountainsides with an odd and rough-textured surface, caused by wind erosion. Bratschen are found on the mountains such as the Fuscherkarkopf, the Großer Bärenkopf, the Kitzsteinhorn, the Schwerteck or on the – eponymous – Bratschenköpfen.