Vent - Ötzi Memorial (via Similaunhütte)

Access to the starting point:
From Ljubljana, take the motorway past Salzburg towards Munich. At the Dreieck Inntal multi-level junction, take the A93 towards Innsbruck/Kufstein/Brenner. On returning to Austria, follow the A12 motorway past Innsbruck, Telfs and Mötz, then turn off at exit 123 near Ötztal Bahnhof onto the B186/B171/Ötztal/Haiming. The B186 road into the Ötztal valley passes Oetz, Längenfeld and the centre of the valley, Sölden. Just a few kilometres further on from Sölden, at the village of Zwieselstein, turn onto the fast climbing but comfortable asphalted road towards Vent. In the tourist village of Vent, park in one of the many (paid) car parks. The parking fee in Vent is €5/day in 2020.

Path description:
From one of the car parks in Vent, head through the village to its south-western edge, where you will see signs leading you over a small bridge in the direction of Martin-Busch-Hütte and Similaunhütte. Follow the rather sloping path, which in the first part of the trip follows the route of a minor dirt road, to a small private hut, shortly after which take a slightly narrower path to the east, which leads through a small canyon of the Niedertalbach river. After about fifteen minutes of further walking, follow the track over an iron bridge to join back to the mountain road. Follow the road, which ascends barely perceptibly and on which you will often encounter cyclists in the warm summer months, around a bend below the northernmost slopes of the Hintere Schwärze to the Martin-Busch-Hütte.

The path between Martin-Busch-Hütte and Similaunhütte mostly follows a relatively gentle, open grassy slope below the expanses of the Marzellferner and Niederjochferner glaciers. The easy route, exposed to the summer heat, initially takes you past a crossroads where the direct approach to the Ötzi Monument branches off (this option is a shorter, easier but less scenic approach to the monument, which I would definitely recommend, at least on your return), before winding past small glacial lakes and climbing slightly more steeply up to the Similaunhütte hut. From Venta, it is about a 4 hour walk to the hut below Similaun, and the whole route is marked accordingly.

At the hut, follow the signs to Ötzi - Fundstelle and Fineilspitze north-westwards and climb in switchbacks to the scenic ridge linking the Similaun and Fineilspitze massifs. The ridge path, which leads along and over a number of large stone blocks, is mostly quite wide and easy, but over some of the more precipitous and steeper places we are helped by the reliable fixed safety gear.
After less than half an hour's walk from the hut, in order to avoid a sharp continuation, we descend below the ridge with the help of a rope and stops and continue our way towards the Ötzi Monument in a gentle ascent through a rugged landscape. The winding and not too steep path, with the help of occasional markings and individual cairns, leads to a large year-round snowfield, over which you walk to a memorial to the discovery of the natural Ötzi mummy, which two German hikers accidentally discovered in the immediate vicinity of the monument.

For the return, I recommend the shorter and more direct, but less panoramic, route to Vent, which from the memorial follows a well-marked trail that takes you safely downhill to the crossroads between the Martin-Busch-Hütte and Similaunhütte huts.

On the way: Martin-Busch-Hütte (2501m), Similaunhütte (3019m)

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