The Urbeleskarspitze is a 2,632-metre-high mountain peak in the

Allgäu Alps The Allgäu Alps () are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps, located on the Austria–Germany border, which covers parts of the Germany, German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg and the Austrian states of Tyrol (state), Tyrol an ...

. It lies within

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in the 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 ...

and is the fifth-highest summit in the Allgäu Alps and the second-highest peak in the

Hornbach chain The Hornbach chain () is a string of mountains, about 15 kilometres long, in the Allgäu Alps in the Austrian state of Tyrol (Bundesland), Tyrol. Geography The Hornbach chain branches at the Öfnerspitze from the main line of the Allgäu ...

. Its neighbours in the Hornbach chain are the Bretterspitze to the southwest and the ''Zwölfer Spitze'' to the northeast.

Rock and structure

Like most of the high mountains in the Allgäu Alps the Urbeleskarspitze consists of

main dolomite Main Dolomite (, , ) is a lithostratigraphic unit in the Alps of Europe. Formation was defined by K.W. Gümbel in 1857. Middle to Late Triassic sedimentary record in the Alpine realm is characterized by presence of various masses of dolomitic r ...

. Its summit has a striking bell-shaped appearance and is easily identified from the north and south from nearby and more distant summits.

First ascent

Who first climbed the Urbeleskarspitze cannot be precisely determined. Candidates include unknown locals or a "Dr. Gümbel" in 1854. It was certainly ascended in 1869 by

Hermann von Barth Hermann von Barth (5 June 1845 – 7 December 1876) was a famous German mountaineer. Life and career Hermann von Barth was born on 5 June 1845 at Eurasburg Castle. He initially studied law in Munich, where he was affiliated to the Corps Fr ...

.Ernst Zettler, Heinz Groth: ''Alpenvereinsführer - Allgäuer Alpen''. 12th full revised edition. Bergverlag Rudolf Rother, Munich, 1985, (p. 385).

Bases

The main starting point for ascents is the village of

Hinterhornbach Hinterhornbach is a municipality in the district of Reutte 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 o ...

in a side valley of the Tyrolean

Lechtal The Lechtal is an alpine valley in Austria, the greater part of which belongs to the state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the smaller part to Vorarlberg. The Lech (river), Lech river flows through the valley. Location The valley is bounded geogr ...

. From there it is roughly 2½ hours to the Kaufbeurer Haus, a self-service hut belonging to the DAV. The hut is regularly manned at weekends from Pentecost to early October but is otherwise only open to members of the Alpine Club with a key.

Ascent

There is no simple way leading to the summit of the Urbeleskarspitze. The two usable routes from the Kaufbeurer Haus require

sure-footedness Sure-footedness is the ability, especially when hiking or mountain climbing, to navigate difficult or rough terrain safely. Such situations place demands on a person's coordination and reserves of strength as well as requiring sufficient appreciati ...

, a

head for heights To have a head for heights means that one has no acrophobia (irrational fear of heights), and is also not particularly prone to fear of falling or suffering from vertigo (the spinning sensation that can be triggered, for example, by looking down ...

and Alpine experience and climbing preparedness. The only partially marked

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 ...

is graded as UIAA II+ and takes just under 2 hours through steep ''

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 ...

'' terrain over the northwest flank to reach the top. An alternative climb existed over the north

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 ...

. It was a UIAA grade II and ran through broken rock, also taking 2 hours to reach the summit of the Urbeleskarspitze.

References

Literature/ Maps

* * *

Alpine Club map Alpine Club maps (, often abbreviated to ''AV-Karten'' i.e. AV maps) are especially detailed maps for summer and winter mountain climbers, hikers, and ski tourers. They are predominantly published at a scale of 1:25.000, although some sheets have ...

2/2 Allgäuer-Lechtaler Alpen – Ost 1:25,000 map series, 7th edition, 2002 *

External links

{{commons category
Tour report
Two-thousanders of Austria Mountains of the Alps Mountains of Tyrol (federal state) Allgäu Alps