Worth Seeing in Vent

On the way from lovely Vent to the Rofenhöfe farmhouses you walk past the legendary summit cross of Wildspitze peak. The cross was put up by mountain guides and innkeepers from the Ötztal in 1933. In August 2010 the old cross of Wildspitze summit was replaced by a new one. Today you can admire the old cross if you take a walk from Vent to the Rofenhöfe farms – offering great views of the Wildspitze. The location is almost the same where the Schlagintweit alpinists started their mountain conquest in 1847, which failed. The very first ascent by Leander Klotz and his team took place in Rofen. Today all mountain fans can take a look at the original summit cross close-by. The easy walking tour to this famous cross is suitable also for families, children and elderly people.

Admire the former summit cross by enjoying splendid views of Wildspitze – The Peak of Tirol.

This funeral chapel was probably built in the 1930ies – there are no written documents concerning its year of construction – in order to lay out mountaineers killed in an alpine accident. The locals from Vent were always laid out in their own houses. Several years later, a new funeral chapel was built next to the parish church in Vent. The “old chapel” unfortunately decayed. A few years ago, Ötztal Tourismus and Sölden sponsored its renovation, and the chapel was renamed as “Vent Mountaineers Chapel”. A glorious opening ceremony followed on the occasion of the 2012 ArteVent Festival, hosting a special photo exhibition on the Ötztal Nature Park. Varied themed exhibitions are scheduled for the coming years.

A great multi-media Nature Park Exhibition takes place on the first floor of the newly renovated parish house in Vent. The exhibition focuses on nature themes like field names, sheep drives, settlement history, Ötzi - the Iceman, glacier priest and tourism pioneer Franz Senn, glacial recession, climate change, high Alpine habitats and their specific fauna and flora.
All descriptions and explanations are available in German and English.

More details:
Naturpark Ötztal
T +43 (0) 5253 20201
Open daily  8.00 am until 8.00 pm, free Admission

More details

The Rofenhöfe farms are located 2km above of Vent at an altitude of 2,014m. Visit the famous Haflinger breed of the farmer Franz Klotz. Leander Klotz was an ancestor of today’s inhabitants. In 1848 he was the first man to climb the Wildspitze mountain. He and his brother Nikodemus were trained to be mountain guides by the glacier priest Franz Senn.

The suspension bridge was built by the Klotz brothers in 1967 and renewed by the provincial government in 1984. The bridge is 46m long. The Rofnerschlucht gorge is 31m in depth. Earlier only a small footbridge led across the Rofnerache river. Climb a number of small rocks to get to and from the bridge.

Stop in Gasthof Rofenhof: Rest day in winter months: Sunday - Rest day in summer months: Monday