The new viewing platform on the Val Senales Glacier offers a magnificent view on Oetzi’s habitat in his last days
High above Maso Corto rises the icy giant of the Val Senales Glacier, a popular hiking destination in summer and an almost year-round ski area. With the exception of the hottest summer months, snowboarding and skiing is possible here from September to May. And anyone who has climbed the steep rock faces by cable car from Maso Corto and arrived at 3,212 m a.s.l. will be rewarded with an incomparable panoramic view.
From the Croda dei Cornacchie mountain station with its Glacier Hotel, the highest hotel in Europe, there is a safe ascent of 40 metres to the "Iceman Oetzi Peak" viewing platform, which was opened in summer 2020. The name was chosen deliberately because Oetzi was already on his way in this mountain world 5,300 years ago. The South Tyrolean steel construction offers a view on the snowfield of Mt. Similaun (3,606 m a.s.l.), where the world famous glacier mummy was found in 1991. And while in the valley the archeoParc Val Senales tells of the Iceman and the life of his time, here his immediate surroundings can be experienced.
Furthermore, the Hochjochferner, a glacier in the Oetztal Alps between the Val Senales Glacier and Vent Valley, and the watershed that forms the national border between Austria and Italy can also be seen from here. From here the water flows into the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The transhumance path, part of the intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO, can also be seen. This is the path of the sheep to the summer pastures: Every year in mid-June shepherds move 3,000 - 4,000 sheep 44 km across the glacier to the Oetztal valley in North Tyrol.
Contact info
- Croda delle Cornacchie / Grawand mountain station - 39020 - Senales / Schnals
- +39 0473 662171
- info@schnalstal.com
Opening times
The panoramic platform can not be reached by cable car from April 17 to early December 2023 due to renovation works of the cable car itself. From the 1st of July to October 3, the Lazaun Cable Car will operate (from Maso Corto to the Senales Glacier hiking area at 2,400 m a.s.l.).