AUSTRIA

AUSTRIA / ÖSTERREICH.

Scenic Beauties in Austria.
Weißsee (Salzburg).
Stamp issued on 09.05.2000.
Face value: 7 Austrian schilling.
Design: Peter Sinawehl (b. 1948).
Engraving: Gerhart Schmirl (b. 1942).
Printing: Photogravure and recess.
Print: 2,800,000 copies.
Size: 43 x 36 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 2203.
- ANK No. 2345.
- Michel No. 2310.
- Scott No. 1813.
- StampWorld No. 2359.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 2557.
- Unificato No. 2143.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 2136.

The Weißsee (also spelled Weisssee) is a reservoir in the state of Salzburg. It is located in the Stubache catchment area, on the border of the Granatspitz and Glockner groups, in the Alps, in the municipality of Uttendorf, at 2,250 m (7,382 ft) above sea level. Its function is to store water and its storage volume is 15.7 million m³ (554 ft³). In 1929 the Enzingerboden and Tauernmoossee power stations were established on the site, and in 1941 the Schneiderau power station. Between 1950 and 1952, the Weißsee was enlarged by the construction of a 39 m (128 ft) high gravity dam with a 235 m (771 ft) long straight crown. In 1951 the area was opened to tourism thanks to the installation of a cable car and ski slopes began to be built. The Rudolfshütte mountain hotel on the northeast side of the lake, opened in 1958 on the site of the Austrian Alpine Club until 1952, is also visible on the stamp.

ICELAND

ICELAND / ÍSLAND.

EUROPA C.E.P.T. issues.
Skaftafell National Park.
First stamp in a set of 2, issued on 05.05.1986.
Face value: 10 Icelandic króna.
Printing: Photogravure.
Print: 1,000,000 copies.
Size: 36 x 26 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 647.
- Michel No. 648.
- Scott No. 622.
- StampWorld No. 649.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 677.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 601.

Skaftafell National Park, founded on September 15, 1967, and enlarged twice afterwards, was situated between Kirkjubæjarklaustur and Höfn in the south of Iceland. On 7 June 2008, it became a part of the larger Vatnajökull National Park. Before its inclusion into the new park, it measured about 4,807 km² (2,884 mi²), making it Iceland's second largest national park. It contains the valley Morsárdalur, the mountain Kristínartindar and the glacier Skaftafellsjökull (a spur of the Vatnajökull ice cap). The scenery around Skaftafell is full of stark contrasts. The various glacial tongues are flanked by jagged mountains, with the glacier-topped peak of Hvannadalshnjúkur rising highest.

INDIA

INDIA / भारत.

15th Anniversary of Indian Mountaineering Foundation.
Mount Everest.
Stamp issued on 15.05.1973.
Face value: 20 Indian paisa.
Printed by India Security Press, Nashik.
Printing: Photogravure.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 565.
- Scott No. 581.
- StampWorld No. 568.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 685.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 358.

Mount Everest (in Nepali, सगरमाथा [Sagarmāthā]; in Tibetan, ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ [Chomolungma]; in Chinese, 珠穆朗玛 [Zhūmùlǎngmǎ]), in the Himalayas, 8,848.86 m (29,031.7 ft) high above sea level, it is the highest mountain on the earth's surface. It is located on the border between Nepal (on its south face) and Tibel, in China (on its north face). After several attempts, the Nepalese Tenzing Norgay and the New Zelander Edmund Hillary were the first to officially reach the summit, via the southeast ridge, on May 29, 1953. The first ascent up the north ridge was made by the Chinese mountaineering team of Wang Fuzhou, Gonpo and Qu Yinhua on May 25, 1960. The name by which the mountain is universally known, adopted by the Royal Geographical Society in 1865, is that of the British George Everest, who had been General Surveyor of India.

Indian Mountaineering Foundation is an apex national body which organize and support, mountaineering and rock climbing expeditions at high altitudes in the Himalayas. The organization also promote and encourage schemes for related adventure activities and environmental protection work in the Indian Himalayas. IMF was formed in 1957 as the Sponsoring Committee of the Cho Oyu Expedition. The foundation was registered on November 3, 1961.

SOVIET UNION

SOVIET UNION / СОЮЗ СОВЕТСКИХ СОЦИАЛИСТИЧЕСКИХ РЕСПУБЛИК.

Soviet Mountain Climbing.
Mount Khan Tengri (now in the Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and China border).
First stamp in a set of 3, issued on 28.12.1964.
Face value: 4 Soviet kopeks.
Design: N. Kruglov and E. Aniskin. 
Printing: Photogravure.
Print: 4,000,000 copies.
Size: 38 x 40 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 3002.
- Scott No. 2982.
- StampWorld No. 2793.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 3077.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 2899.
- Zagorski No. 3055.

Khan Tengri (Kyrgyz: Хан-Теңири; Kazakh: Хан Тәңірі; simplified Chinese: 汗腾格里峰; Uighur: خانتەڭرى) is a mountain of the Tian Shan mountain range. It is on the China—Kyrgyzstan—Kazakhstan tripoint, east of lake Issyk Kul. Its geologic elevation is 6,995 m (22,949 ft), but its glacial icecap rises to 7,010 m (22,999 ft). It is a massive marble pyramid, covered in snow and ice. Peter Semenov was the first European to see the Tian Shan and its peak in 1857. The first ascent of the peak was made in 1931 by Mikhail Pogrebetsky, Boris Tyurin and Franz Sauberer. In the worldview of the ancient peoples of Turkic-Mongolian origin, Tengri is the supreme deity, the organizer of the world, along with the goddess Umai.

NEW ZEALAND

NEW ZEALAND / AOTEAROA.

Landscapes.
Mount Cook.
First stamp in a set of 9, issued on 27.03.1996.
Face value: 5 cents of New Zealand dollar.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Size: 35 x 30 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 1502.
- Scott No. 1345.
- StampWorld No. 1545.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1925.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 1440.

Mount Cook (Māori: Aoraki) is the highest mountain in New Zealand. Its height, as of 2014, is listed as 3,724 m (12,218 ft). It sits in the Southern Alps, the mountain range that runs the length of the South Island. It consists of three summits: from south to north, the Low Peak (3,593 m or 11,788 ft), the Middle Peak (3,717 m or 12,195 ft) and the High Peak. The summits lie slightly south and east of the main divide of the Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana, with the Tasman Glacier to the east and the Hooker Glacier to the southwest. The mountain is in the Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park, established in 1953 in the Canterbury Region. The park contains more than 140 peaks standing over 2,000 m (6,600 ft) and 72 named glaciers, which cover 40 percent of its 700 km² (170,000 acres). The first known ascent was on December 25, 1894, when New Zealanders Tom Fyfe, John Michael (Jack) Clarke and George Graham reached the summit via the Hooker Valley and the north ridge.

AUSTRIA

AUSTRIA / ÖSTERREICH.

Landscapes.
Silvretta Alps (Vorarlberg).
Twenty-third stamp in a set of 33, issued on 24.11.1945.
Face value: 50 Austrian groschen.
Design: Alfred von Chmielowski (1896–1967).
Printing: Photogravure.
Size: 28 x 33 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 658.
- Austria Netto Katalog No. 760.
- Michel No. 760.
- Scott No. 473.
- StampWorld No. 784.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 945.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 622.

The Silvretta Alps are a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps shared by Tyrol, Vorarlberg (both in Austria) and Graubünden (Switzerland). The Austrian states of Tirol and Vorarlberg are connected by a pass road (Silvretta Hochalpenstraße at 2,032 m, 6,666 ft). The majority of the peaks are elevated above three thousand metres and are surrounded by glaciers.

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Thanks to Dragan Buškulić for his contribution (https://worldofstamp2.wordpress.com/).

MEXICO

MEXICO / MÉXICO.

Ethnicity and History.
Citlaltépetl Volcano (or Orizaba Peak).
Airmail. Third stamp in a set of 9, issued in 1947.
Face value: 15 cents of Mexican peso.
Printing: Recess.
Printed by Oficina Impresora de Hacienda, México.
Size: 40 x 25 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 959.
- Scott No. C172.
- StampWorld No. 1020.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 827.
- Yvert et Tellier No. PA127.

Citlaltépetl, commonly known as Orizaba Peak (Pico de Orizaba), is an inactive (but not extinct) stratovolcano, the highest mountain in Mexico and the third highest in North America. It rises 5,636 meters (18,491 ft) above sea level in the eastern end of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, on the border between the states of Veracruz and Puebla, and is part of the Sierra Madre Oriental. It last eruption taking place during the 19th century. In the colonial era, the volcano was also known as Cerro de San Andrés. It is one of only three volcanoes in Mexico that continue to support glaciers and is home to the largest glacier in the country, the Gran Glaciar Norte. In 1839, Henri Galeotti was the first European to explore the volcano, but he did not climb to the top. During the US occupation of Mexico in 1848, two American soldiers, F. Maynard and William F. Raynolds, reached the summit. On December 16, 1936, the Mexican government created the 48,800-acre (19,750-hectare) Pico de Orizaba National Park (Parque Nacional Pico de Orizaba) to protect the volcano and its surrounding area.

ITALY

ITALY / ITALIA.

National Parks.
Gran Paradiso National Park and Alpina Ibex (Capra ibex).
First stamp in a set of 4, issued on 22.04.1967.
Face value: 20 Italian lire.
Design: Corrado Mancioli (1904-1968).
Printed by I.P.S. (Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato), Officina Carte e Valori, Roma.
Printing: Photogravure.
Print: 25,000,000 copies.
Size: 30 x 40 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 1226.
- Sassone No. 1040.
- Scott No. 953.
- StampWorld No. 1202.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1177.
- Unificato No. 1040.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 964.

Gran Paradiso National Park (Italian: Parco nazionale del Gran Paradiso; French; Parc national du Grand Paradis), is located in the Graian Alps, between the Aosta Valley and Piedmont regions, and borders France in its western part. The park is named after Gran Paradiso mountain, which is located in the park; it is contiguous with the French Vanoise National Park. The land the park, created on December 3, 1922, encompasses was initially protected in order to protect the Alpine ibex from poachers. Its area is 703 km² (272 sq mi) of alpine terrain. 9.5% of the park's surface area is occupied by 57 glaciers.

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Thanks to Fadda Giuseppe for his contribution.

ECUADOR

ECUADOR.

Chimborazo Volcano.
Fifth stamp in a set of 9, issued in 1934.
Face value: 10 Ecuadorian centavos.
Printed by American Bank Note Co., New York.
Printing: Recess.
Print: 1,000,000 copies.
Size: 28 x 24 mm.

Catalogs
- Bertossa No. 356.
- Michel No. 318.
- Scott No. 324.
- StampWorld No. 320.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 496.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 307.

Chimborazo is an inactive double stratovolcano in the Cordillera Occidental range of the Andes, and it shows four summits; Whymper, Veintimilla, Politecnica, and Nicolas Martínez. Its last eruption is believed to have occurred around 550 A.D. With a peak elevation of 6,263 m (20,548 ft) above sea level, it is the highest mountain in Ecuador. Chimborazo is in the Chimborazo Province, 150 km (93 mi) south-southwest of the city of Quito. The top of the mountain is completely covered by glaciers. The English climber Edward Whymper and his Italian guides Louis Carrel and Jean-Antoine Carrel, were the first Europeans to reach the top on January 4, 1880.

SOVIET UNION

SOVIET UNION / СОЮЗ СОВЕТСКИХ СОЦИАЛИСТИЧЕСКИХ РЕСПУБЛИК.

Landscapes.
Belukha Mountain, Altai Republic.
Seventh stamp in a set of 9, issued on 15.12.1959.
Face value: 60 Soviet kopek.
Design: S. Pomansky. 
Engraving: Ivan Sapronov.
Printing: Recess.
Print: 1,500,000 copies.
Size: 38 x 27 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 2306.
- Scott No. 2278.
- StampWorld No. 2095.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 2405.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 2249.
- Zagorski No. 2302.

Belukha Mountain (Russian: Белуха; Altai: Ӱч-Сӱмер; Kazakh: Мұзтау Шыңы), located in the Katun Mountains, is the highest peak of the Altai Mountains in Russia and the highest of the system of the South Siberian Mountains. It is part of the World Heritage Site entitled Golden Mountains of Altai. Located in the Altai Republic (Russian Federation), Belukha is a three-peaked mountain massif that rises along the border of Russia and Kazakhstan. There are 169 glaciers on the mountain, including Belukha and Sapozhnikov glaciers. Of the two peaks, the eastern peak (4,506 m, 14,784 ft) is higher than the western peak (4,440 m, 14,567 ft). Belukha Mountain was first climbed in 1914 by Boris and Mikhail Tronov brothers. Lake Akkem appears in the foreground of the stamp image.

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Thanks to Dragan Buškulić for his contribution (https://worldofstamp2.wordpress.com/).

FRANCE

FRANCE.

Lake Lérié and La Meije Mountain.
Stamp issued on 05.07.1943.
Face value: 20 French francs.
Design and engraving: Pierre Gandon (1899-1990).
Printing: Recess.
Print: 1,673,000 copies.
Size: 40 x 26 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 594.
- Scott No. 465.
- StampWorld No. 586.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 786.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 582.

Lérié is a small mountain lake, located west of La Grave, in the Hautes-Alpes department. It is located on the Emparis plateau at an altitude of 2,450 m (8,038 ft).

La Meije is a mountain in the Massif des Écrins range, located at the border of the Hautes-Alpes and Isère departments. It is made up of three main summits: the highest point, the Grand Pic de la Meije, is at 3,983 m (13,068 ft). The mountain has three important glaciers: La Meije, Râteau and la Girose (accessible through a cable car built in 1976-1977, which rises to a height of 3,200 m, 10,498 ft). The area has good ski slopes The first ascent of the Grand Pic was made on August 16, 1877 by Emmanuel Boileau de Castelnau with father and son Pierre Gaspard.

Thanks to Daniel Mathieu for his contribution (http://lettresdumonde.blogspot.com/)

GERMAN REICH

GERMAN REICH / DEUTSCHES REICH.

Winter Charity: Ostmark Landscapes and Alpine Flowers.
Mount Grossglockner, Carinthia & East Tyrol, Austria, and edelweiss.
Fourth stamp in a set of 9, issued on 18.11.1938.
Face value: 6 + 4 German reichspfennig.
Design and engraving: Maria & Werner von Axster-Heudtlass.
Printing: Recess.
Size: 27 x 32 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 675.
- Michel No. 678.
- Scott No. B126.
- StampWorld No. 670.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 666.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 619.

The Grossglockner is, at 3,798 m (12,461 ft) above the Adriatic Sea, is the highest mountain in Austria and the highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass. It is part of the larger Glockner Group of the Hohe Tauern range, situated along the main ridge of the Central Eastern Alps, on the border of the Austrian states of Carinthia and East Tyrol. The Pasterze, Austria's most extended glacier, lies on the Grossglockner's eastern slope. The first known ascent took place on July 28, 1800, by five members of an expedition led by Count Franz-Xaver of Salm-Raifferscheid: Sepp and Martin Klotz, Martin Reicher, Matthias Hautzendorfer and another person from the the identity is unknown.

A typical alpine flower, the edelweiss (Leontopolium nivale), appears on the stamp.

NEW ZEALAND

NEW ZEALAND / AOTEAROA.

Centennial of the National Parks Movement.
Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park.
Second stamp in a set of 4, issued on 17.06.1987.
Face value: 80 cents of New Zealand dollar.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Size: 30 x 35 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 997.
- Scott No. 877.
- StampWorld No. 1017.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1429.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 961.

Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park is in the South Island of New Zealand, near the town of Twizel. The area was gazetted as a national park in October 1953 and consists of reserves that were established as early as 1887 to protect the area's significant vegetation and landscape. The park stretches for about 60 km (37 mi) along the southwest-northeast direction of the Southern Alps, covering 722 km² (279 sq mi) on the southeastern side of the main spine of the Alps. Glaciers cover 40% of the park area, notably the Tasman Glacier. It is also in the park area the New Zealand's highest mountain, the Aoraki / Mount Cook, at 3,724 m (12,218 ft). On the stamp there is also a drawing of a buttercup (Ranunculus bulbosus), a characteristic flower of the area.

The National Parks Movement began in 1887 with an initiative of the paramount chief of the Ngāti Tūwharetoa tribe, Horonuku Te Heuheu, which made an agreement wirh the British Crown that the central North Island volcanoes would become a national park, because different tribes were disputing ownership of the peaks of Ruapehu, Ngāuruhoe and Tongariro, and there was a danger that they would be divided and sold.

ICELAND

ICELAND / ÍSLAND

Landscapes.
Snæfellsjökull Glacier and Volcano.
First stamp in a set of 4, issued on 06.01.1970.
Face value: 1 Icelandic króna.
Printing: photogravure.
Print: 3,000,000 copies.
Size: 36 x 26 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 435.
- Michel No. 434.
- Scott No. 412.
- StampWorld No. 435.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 465.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 387.

Snæfellsjökull is a 700,000-year-old glacier-capped stratovolcano in western Iceland. It is situated on the most western part of the Snæfellsnes peninsula. Its elevation is 1,446 m (4,744 ft). The stratovolcano, which is the only large central volcano in its part of Iceland, has many pyroclastic cones on its flanks. Upper-flank craters produced intermediate to felsic materials, while lower-flank craters produced basaltic lava flows. Several holocene eruptions have originated from the summit crater and have produced felsic material. Snæfellsjökull serves as the entrance to the subterranean journey in Jules Verne's classic science fiction novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864).

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Thanks to Giovanna Goric for his contribution.

NEW ZEALAND

NEW ZEALAND / AOTEAROA.

Fox Glacier, Westland Tai Poutini National Park.
Stamp issued on 30.07.1968.
Face value: 28 cents of New Zealand dollar.
Printing: Photogravure.
Size: 24.3 x 30 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 486.
- Scott No. 398.
- StampWorld No. 502.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 878.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 457A.

Fox Glacier (Māori: Te Moeka o Tuawe) is a 13-kilometre-long (8.1 mi) temperate maritime glacier located in Westland Tai Poutini National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Fox Glacier descends 2,600 m (8,500 ft) from the Southern Alps towards the coast: Like nearby Franz Josef Glacier, it is one of the most accessible glaciers in the world, with a terminal face as low as 300 m above sea level. In 1857 local Māori led Leonard Harper and Edwin Fox to both glaciers, the first Europeans to see them. In 1865, German geologist Julius von Haast was the first to explore and survey the glaciers at the head of this valley, and named them Victoria and Albert, after the queen and her consort. The Victoria Glacier kept its name, but the lower part of the Albert Glacier was renamed in 1872 after a visit by then Premier of New Zealand William Fox.

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Thanks to Dragan Buškulić for his contribution (https://worldofstamp2.wordpress.com/).

CHILE

CHILE.

Tourism promotion.
Mocho-Choshuenco Volcano.
Stamp issued on 12.04.1962.
Face value: 2 cents of Chilean peso.
Printed by Casa de Moneda de Chile.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Print: 162,067,901 copies.
Size: 23 x 18 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 617.
- Scott No. 326.
- StampWorld No. 597.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 492a.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 298.

Mocho-Choshuenco is a glacier covered compound stratovolcano in the Andes of Valdivia Province, in Los Ríos Region. It is made of the twin volcanoes Choshuenco in the northwest and the Mocho in the southeast. The highest parts of the volcano are part of the Mocho-Choshuenco National Reserve while the eastern slopes are partly inside the Huilo-Huilo Biological Reserve. The altitude of Choshuenco is 2,415 m (7,923 ft), and that of Mocho, 2,422 m (7,943 ft). The uppermost part of Mocho-Choshuenco is covered by an ice cap that surrounds the volcanic cone of Mocho and some flanks of Choshuenco. The first recorded eruption of the Mocho took place in 1759; the last, to date, is registered in 1937. The first climbers to reach the summits were Dr. Rudolf Haege, Kaerner and Steenbloock, in 1934.

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Thanks to Dragan Buškulić for his contribution (https://worldofstamp2.wordpress.com/).

ICELAND

ICELAND / ÍSLAND

Iceland's glaciers.
Öræfajökull Glacier.
Third stamp in a set of 3, issued on 05.08.1957.
Face value: 10 Icelandic króna.
Design: S. Jonnson.
Printed by De la Rue.
Printing: Recess.
Print: 1,000,000 copies.
Size: 36 x 26 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 319.
- Michel No. 318.
- Scott No. 304.
- StampWorld No. 319.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 348.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 276.

Öræfajökull ('Öræfi glacier' or 'wasteland glacier') is an ice-covered volcano in southeastern Iceland. It is the largest active volcano on the island, and Hvannadalshnúkur, on the edge of the crater, is Iceland's highest peak at 2,110 m (6,920 ft); It is located within the Vatnajökull National Park, covered by part of the glacier. In 1362, Knappafellsjökull (the name by which the volcano was then known) explosively erupted, expelling 10 cubic kilometers of tephra. Another smaller eruption took place in 1728, and between 2017 and 2018 an increase in seismic activity was observed in the area.

NORWAY

NORWAY / NORGE - NOREG.

Centennial of the National Tourism Association.
Glittertind peak in Jotunheimen National Park.
Third stamp in a set of 3, issued on 22.01.1968.
Face value: 90 Norwegian øre.
Printing: Recess.
Print: 2,049,500 copies.
Size: 36 x 24 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 576.
- Michel No. 563.
- Norgeskatalogen No. 601.
- Scott No. 512.
- StampWorld No. 579.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 612.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 517.

Glittertind (official form on maps: Glittertinden) is the second highest mountain in the Scandinavian Alps, at 2,465 m (8,087 ft) above sea level, including the glacier at its peak; without the glacier, it is 2,452 m (8,045 ft). It is in the municipality of Lom (Innlandet county), in the Jotunheimen National Park. Its summit was first reached in 1841 by Harald Nicolai Storm Wergeland and Hans Sletten. The Glittertind takes its name from the neighboring Glitra River to which the ending tind which means ‘peak’ has been added.

SWITZERLAND

SWITZERLAND / SCHWEITZ - SUISSE - SVIZZERA - SVIZRA

Swiss Alps.
Finsteraarhorn.
Stamp issued on 26.09.1966.
Face value: 0.10 Swiss franc.
Design: Hans Thöni (1906-1980).
Printing: Photogravure.
Print: 41,747,000 copies.
Size: 36 x 26.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 837.
- Michel No. 842.
- Scott No. 479.
- StampWorld No. 836.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 742.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 775.
- Zumstein No. 445.

The Finsteraarhorn, 4,274 m (14,022 ft) above sea level, is a mountain lying on the border between the cantons of Bern and Valais. It is the highest mountain of the Bernese Alps and the most prominent peak of Switzerland. In 2001 the whole massif and surrounding glaciers were designated by UNESCO as part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch World Heritage Site. To its west lies the Fiescher Glacier, the second longest in the Alps. The first ascent was for a long time a controversial matter, but it is considered that the first people to reach the top, on August 10, 1829, were two guides on an expedition organized by Franz Joseph Hugi, who had failed in his attempt a year before.

AUSTRIA

AUSTRIA / ÖSTERREICH.

Airplane over landscapes.
Mount Torsäule.
Airmail. Last stamp in a set of 3, issued on 05.05.1947.
Face value: 5 Austrian shilling.
Design: Heinrich Blechner (1895-1983).
Engraving: Rupert Franke (1888-1971).
Printing: Recess.
Print: 740,000 copies.
Size: 30 x 39 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 713.
- ANK No. 825.
- Michel No. 827.
- Scott No. C52.
- StampWorld No. 837.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1022.
- Yvert et Tellier No. PA 52.

Torsäule (‘gateway column’), at 2,588 m (8,591 ft) above sea level, is a very steep limestone formation, approximately 500 meters high, on the east flank of Hochkönig massif with its glacier, know as Übergossene Alm (visible on the stamp), in the Berchtesgaden Alps, in the Sankt Johann im Pongau district of the federal state of Salzburg. With more than 36 routes, the southern wall of the Torsäule is the most climbed in the Hochkönig. Its summit was first reached in 1882 by Anton von Posselt-Czorich and J. Aigner.