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18 April 2024

Two mountain peaks going cheap in Austria

The Alps mountains in Austria could be yours: two 2,000-metre (6,500-feet) mountain peaks in eastern Tyrol - the "Grosse Kinigat" and the "Rosskopf" - are up for sale for just 121,000 euros ($175,800) for the pair. (AFP)

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By AFP

Are you the outdoors type, a die-hard hill walker with cash to spare? Then you won't want to miss out on the chance to buy your very own mountain peaks in the Austrian Alps.

Two 2,000-metre (6,500-feet) mountain peaks in eastern Tyrol - the "Grosse Kinigat" and the "Rosskopf" - are up for sale for just 121,000 euros ($175,800) for the pair.

On its website, Austria's federal real estate company, the Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft or BIG, proudly boasts that the two peaks offer the "most stunning views of the Carnic Alps and are popular destinations for mountain climbers and hikers".

Nevertheless, the decision to put them up for sale has angered locals.

"It's a mystery to me why they're wanting to sell the peaks right now," the mayor of the tiny village of Kartitsch, Josef Ausserlechner, told the Austrian news agency APA.

"In Greece, they're selling off islands. In Austria, it's the mountains," he fumed.

Ausserlechner insisted the village of Kartitsch has right of first refusal, but could only afford to pay a symbolic price of "a couple of thousand of euros".

Interested buyers have until July 8 to place their bids and, according to the regional daily Kleine Zeitung, 20 people had already done so.

But whoever the new owners turned out to be, "they won't be allowed to fence them off. The public and hikers have right of way," mayor Ausserlechner insisted.