Mountain ranges / Otztal Alps / Fineilspitze

Fineilspitze

Country: Austria, Italy

Mountain range: Otztal Alps

Altitude: 3514 m

Lat/Lon:

46,78031°N 10,83183°E

Type: peak

Weather forecast:

Views: 906

Popularity: 22% (2660. place)

Number of pictures: 7

Number of trails: 1

Number of GPS tracks: 0

Description of peak:
Fineilspitze (Punta di Finale in Italian) is a 3514 m high border mountain separating the Austrian and Italian divisions of the Ötztal Alps. It is located in the Schnalskamm mountain range in South Ötztal, and gained global recognition after the discovery of a natural mummy, later named "Ötzi", on the slopes just below its rocky structure by two German excursionists in 1991. Despite Fineilspitze being the mountain geographically closest to the site, the status of "Ötzi Mountain" in the popular consciousness has gone to its flatter, higher and more easily accessible neighbour Similaun, which lures many visitors with the promise of a basic, technically superior glacier hike.

The approach to Fineilspitze, which perhaps somewhat unjustifiably remains in the shadow of the vast Similaun in terms of visitor numbers, is on the other hand more technically demanding and unpredictable, although climbing over the crumbly north-east ridge, which is the normal approach to the mountain, does not, in the right conditions, go beyond a high first ascent level.

The otherwise unspaced and exposed summit offers spectacular views of the sky on all sides: especially worthy of note are the impressions of the view of the nearby peaks of the Ötztal Alps, headed by Wildspitze, Weißkugl, Similaun and Hintere Schwärze, the white peaks of Bernina, the expanses of the Hochjochferner glacier to the west below the summit, and the vista over the south-lying Vernagta valley with its eponymous lake deep below the memorial to the most famous Copper Age native.