Fineilspitz Ascent

Personal Account of Ascent: I had already climbed Similaun early this morning starting from the Similaun Hut and then followed the trail along the ridge to the discovery site of Ice-man "Otzi". From there it is a short hike to the Hauslapjoch and across and up a snowfield to the base of the rocky and moderately steep northeast ridge of the peak, the right-hand ridge of the peak as you see it from Hauslapjoch. There was still new snow from a storm of two or three day earlier and I simply followed the tracks of others. The snow on the rocks made me, a solo climber, climb deliberately and with caution. The ridge makes a nice scramble; it's little airy, but not desparately steep, and offers many holds on good rock. It was brilliantly clear without much wind. The view was wonderful. There were a couple of other people on the summit when I was there and there were perhaps six others on the peaks altogether during the period I was climbing it. I descended the same way I had come up. The round trip from Similaun Hut could not have taken much more than five hours. I heartily recommend this peak; it is fun but not frightening. Actually, I think that from the Hauslapjoch one could just as easily climb the left hand ridge to the summit, or any number of routes in between. (The right and left hand ridges join before the summit is reached.)