Vent – Tirol's mountaineering village

Sometimes less is more: Vent lives a gentle kind of tourism out of conviction. Holiday guests come here because of the huge variety of hiking opportunities, summit tours and multi-day expeditions amidst unspoilt nature. They especially appreciate the village as a starting point for easy hikes or Alpine classics such as Wildspitze, Similaun, Weisskugel & many more. They like to forego mass tourism and animation for the quiet and the genuine. Furthermore, the village has no architectural mistakes. In addition to the parish church, the chapel and the farmhouses there are accommodations for every budget, ranging from inexpensive mountain lodges to 4-star hotels.

On 19 September 1991, mountain hikers descending from Fineilspitze down to Tisenjoch discovered an about 5300 year old man in the ice. The sensational finding of "Ötzi" revealed that hunters, shepherds and traders have been crossing the main Alpine ridges since time immemorial. The earliest use of a primeval hunting base was even in the time around 7600 BC.

The official history of Vent begins with a historical document dating from the year 1241. The first settlers were shepherds who migrated from today's South Tyrol towards the north. Fascinated by the glacial lakes, tourists came to Rofental already in the 18th century.

An important chapter was opened by glacier priest Franz Senn (1831-1884). As a curate in Vent and co-founder of the German Alpine Club (1869), he promoted modern alpinism by creating trails and paths and building Alpine shelters. He wanted to get people enthusiastic about mountaineering and thereby improve the difficult economic situation of the people in the valley. Franz Senn himself climbed many three thousand meter high summits in the Ötztal Alps.

The long Alpine history and the close relationship with the Alpine Club make Vent a classic mountaineering village. This initiative unites villages that have excelled in their regions as pioneers of alpinism by upholding the harmony between man and nature up to today. Learn more about this initiative and the mountaineering village of Vent.