The Kleiner Solstein is a mountain, high, in the

Nordkette The Nordkette, also variously called the North Chain, Northern Range, rarely the Inn Valley Range or Inn Valley Chain (''Inntalkette''), is a range of mountains just north of the city of Innsbruck in Austria. It is the southernmost of the four gr ...

in the

Karwendel The Karwendel is the largest mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps. It is located on the Austria–Germany border. The major part belongs to the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, while the adjacent area in the north is part ...

Alps in the Austrian state of

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

. Despite its name ("Small Solstein") it towers above its western neighbour, the

Großer Solstein The Große Solstein is a mountain, high, on the western corner of the Nordkette range in the Karwendel mountains near Zirl in the Austrian state of Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northe ...

("Great Solstein") () by almost and is thus the highest summit in the Nordkette. The southern side of the Kleiner Solstein facing the

Inn valley The Inn (; ; ) is a river in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. The long river is a right tributary of the Danube, being the third largest tributary of the Danube by discharge. The highest point of its drainage basin is the summit of Piz Bernin ...

is characterised by ''

schrofen Schrofen, a German mountaineering term, is steep terrain, strewn with rocks and rock outcrops, that is laborious to cross, but whose rock ledges (''schrofen'') offer many good steps and hand holds. It is usually rocky terrain on which grass has es ...

'' and steep-sided

cirque A (; from the Latin word ) is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by Glacier#Erosion, glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from , meaning a pot or cauldron) and ; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform a ...

s. To the north it plummets in a rock face up to high towards the valley of ''Großkristental'', which runs from the Gleirsch valley in a southwesterly direction to the Erl Saddle.

Ascent

The

normal route A normal route or normal way (; ) is the most frequently used climbing route for ascending and descending a given mountain peak; it is usually the easiest and often the most straightforward route. Other generic names include the ''Tourism, tourist ...

to the Kleiner Solstein runs from the saddle between the Großer and Kleiner Solstein, initially crossing a small ridge of rock (''Felsrippe'') then over ''schrofen'' from the south to the flat summit ridge following a

waymark Trail blazing or way marking is the practice of marking paths in outdoor recreational areas with signs or markings that follow each other at certain, though not necessarily exactly defined, distances and mark the direction of the trail. A blaz ...

ed route to the top. The route to the saddle between the two peaks may be reached either from the

Solsteinhaus The Solsteinhaus is an Alpine Club hut belonging to the Austrian Alpine Club located at a height of on the Erl Saddle (''Erlsattel'') between the mountains of the Nordkette and Erlspitze Group. It was opened in 1914 and totally renovated in 2007 ...

and the Großer Solstein or on two paths from the south from the Neue Magdeburger Hut. The crossing from the Hohe Warte to the east from the ''Gamswart Saddle'' has a

climbing grade Many climbing routes have grades for the technical difficulty, and in some cases for the risks, of the route. The first ascensionist can suggest a grade but it will be amended for the ''consensus view'' of subsequent ascents. While many cou ...

of UIAA III- and runs directly along the initially extremely sharp eastern

arête An arête ( ; ) is a narrow ridge of rock that separates two valleys. It is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys. Arêtes can also form when two glacial cirques erode headwards towards one another, although frequ ...

. There are several difficult

climbing route A climbing route () is a path by which a Climbing, climber reaches the top of a mountain, a rock face or an ice-covered obstacle. The details of a climbing route are recorded in a climbing guidebook and/or in an online climbing-route database. De ...

s up the north face. File:Kleiner_+_Grosser_Solstein_von_NW_HQ.jpg, Kleiner (left) + Großer (right) Solstein with the Solsteinhaus from the NW File:Kleiner_+_Grosser_Solstein_von_N_HQ.jpg, Kleiner (left) + Großer (right) Solstein from the N File:Nordkette mit Kleinem Solstein.jpg, View of the Nordkette from the Stempeljochspitze. The Kleiner Solstein can be seen rising prominently

Literature

References

External links

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Tour description
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solstein, Kleiner Two-thousanders of Austria Karwendel Mountains of Tyrol (federal state) Mountains of the Alps Innsbruck