Oberissalm - Innere Sommerwand (approach via glacier Sommerwandferner)

Access to starting point:
From Ljubljana, we drive on the highway past Salzburg in the direction towards München. At the multilevel junction Dreieck Inntal we go on the road A93 in the direction of Innsbruck/Kufstein/Brenner. When we return to Austria we continue to the junction with the exit Innsbruck-Mitte. Here we don't turn towards Innsbruck, but we continue on the highway A13 in the direction towards the mountain pass Brenner. We leave the highway at the exit 10-Schönberg and a comfortable road through the valley Stubaital we follow to the settlement Neustift im Stubaital, where at the roundabout in the middle of the town we choose the first exit and the ascending road we follow to the village Milders. In Milders we follow the road Mühlenweg and signposts for Oberissalm. To the mountain pasture follows approx. 8 km of narrower asphalt road, on which there is often a livestock, so the possible waiting time must be included in the estimated driving time. On the mountain pasture Oberiss we park on the settled parking lot, where the parking fee is 5 euros per day.

Alternatively we can drive through northern Italy: in this case from the main Slovenia on the highway A2 we drive to one of the border crossings with Austria and we continue towards Lienz. Here we continue on the road 100 and past the passage Prato alla Drava we drive into Italy. In Italy we follow the road SS49 all the way to the juncture with highway A22 in the direction towards the mountain pass Brenner. After the mountain pass, we continue in the direction towards Innsbruck to the exit Schönberg. From there we continue as described above.

Path description:
On the mountain pasture at the signpost above the parking lot we go on a wide macadam road which in few minutes of easy walking towards the southwest brings us to a well-marked turn-off of a narrower footpath which with nice views on the eastern part of the mountain range Alpeiner Berge and mountain pasture Oberiss below us in zig-zags relatively gently leads through thin high mountain forest. A little higher we pass on a grassy slope covered with high mountain vegetation by the edge of the upper part of the valley Obergbach, where we have nice views towards the mountain hut Franz Senn and Vordere Sommerwand, and the steepness then starts to decrease. On a pleasant and panoramic footpath which we follow in the last part of the path to the hut, past the mountain dairy on the mountain pasture Alpeiner on attractive watery landscape in good fifteen minutes we ascend to popular Franz-Senn-Hütte; from the starting point to the hut there is approximately hour and a half of walking.

At the mountain hut, we notice a signpost, which points us firmly towards the south on the path which leads towards the glacier Sommerwandferner, Vordere and Innere Sommerwand. At first, a quite easy path is winding on a grassy slope and a little higher it runs parallel with a torrent from the glacier Sommerwandferner. Through a partly rocky edge we get closer to the northern ridge of Sommerwand and we continue on rocky terrain below the eastern slope of Vordere Sommerwand. After about an hour of walking from the mountain hut, we get to a crossing: on a marked path which turns sharply right towards the slope of Vordere Sommerwand, we can in good 20 minutes ascend on the lowest named hill in the ridge Sommerwand, and the footpath towards the glacier Sommerwandferner continues straight in the direction towards the south; at this spot, the path with the exception of some old and faded blaze isn't marked anymore, and at the orientation to the bottom of the glaciers we get help from boldly placed cairns.
For some time we still relatively gently cross below the ridge of Sommerwand, and after a shorter ascent, we descend towards the bottom of glacial valley. Following numerous cairns on rocky terrain we cross past (in the summer dried up) glacial lake to the edge of the western part of a glacier Sommerwandferner. Caution: on the western part of the glacier in the direction towards Kräulscharte usually leads a clearly visible path in the snow, and in that area there shouldn't be any crevasses; this isn't the case on the eastern part of the glacier below Knotenspitzen, so we stick to the verified terrain.
Near the lowest point of the valley below Sommerwand the cairns by the edge of the snow field disappear a little, and we look towards the next destination: the flat rocks in the middle of the glacier, above which we will be able to find footmarks in the snow, which will bring us below the saddle Kräulscharte. To avoid more demanding climbing over the cliff, on the snow right from the rocks we cross to easier passable terrain, where we ascend to the rocks. Among relatively sharp stones of the rocky lane of we can again notice cairns, which reliably lead us to the edge of the glacier. Here we go upwards towards the obvious saddle above the western part of the glacier Sommerwandferner; in the summer and autumn we will probably get help from traces in the snow, otherwise a moderately steep glacier we cross towards the southwest. Right below the saddle, when a nice view opens up towards the summit of Innere Sommerwand on the right, the steepness increases; when the snow is icy, a winter equipment is more than welcomed.
The difficulty of the entrance into a rugged wall below the saddle Kräulscharte depends on the time of the year or weather conditions: the easiest is in the winter and spring, in the summer and in the autumn there are ropes, which help us at the ascent over the wall, climb some inconvenient rocks. With the help of the rope and some steps at the top, we ascend on a moderately steep wall; without the help of the rope we would climb a serious 2nd grade. On the saddle, which connects the ridge Sommerwand and Kräulspitzen, we go right (west) and on a quite wide ridge we ascend to the natural passage among the big sharp rocks.
At this spot, we have two options: to the top we can go on the western or eastern slope below the ridge of the mountain. Much safer and easier is the latter ("right") choice, because on the eastern side of the mountain we can relatively simply follow the traces of predecessors, and the most appropriate approach is shown also by bolts, which are placed in short intervals, so that we can use them for reliable belaying. On the path we have to climb few shorter bands, and the difficulty of climbing nowhere exceeds 1st grade. After approx. 15 minutes of ascent from Kräulscharte through exposed and crumbly terrain (where rocks on the western side of the upper massif of the mountain much are less broken as on its eastern slope) we ascend to the cross on a panoramic summit in a very nice high mountain environment.
To the top we can get to also on the western slope below the upper ridge, but because of a very crumbly gravel and objective danger I don't recommend it. To avoid the risky ascent on broken rocks, to the part just below the summit we can ascend on flat rocks (II).

The ascent on Innere Sommerwand is a high mountain tour, which demands appropriate mountaineering experience: we need a good sense of orientation, because we mostly walk on otherwise quite transparent, but unmarked and quite remote area, and the demanding upper part is pathless, although we can on many spots orientate with the help of traces of predecessors; in case if we walk on optimal ascent route, the climbing in the upper part otherwise doesn't exceed the 1st grade, and if we aren't overly concerned with finding the easiest passages, the difficulty of climbing can increase significantly. Although the glacier is relatively easy passable and in the western part it doesn't have any crevasses, we need to have at least basic knowledge of walking on the glacier, which especially comes to the fore in difficult weather conditions.
No matter what Innere Sommerwand is among technically and orientationally easiest accessible three-thousanders in a quite remote and still glacial area of the mountain range Alpeiner Berge. That’s why the ascent on Innere Sommerwand can be an attractive choice for an experienced mountaineer - because on the top we find ourselves in the heart of the remote area of ample glaciers, where only rare paths lead on peaks, which are sharply rising above them.

On the way: Franz-Senn-Hütte (2147m), sedlo Kräulscharte (3069m)