Rising to 3,444 metres right on the border between Austrian Tyrol and Italian South Tyrol, the Sonklarspitze is one of the striking summits of the main ridge of the Stubai Alps. What makes it especially memorable is the visible mark of climate change - once a broad, snow-capped dome, its true high point is now the exposed summit cross where the ice has melted away.

The setting is dramatic: the Übeltalferner glacier stretches out to the east, the Triebenkarlesferner to the west, and just over a kilometre away rises the Zuckerhütl, the highest peak of the Stubai Alps. The rock here is notoriously brittle mica schist prone to rockfall, giving the climb a genuinely alpine, high-mountain character. Expect glacier travel, rugged ridgelines, and sweeping views across the Stubai and Ötztal Alps.

How to reach the summit

• Via the Übeltalferner glacier and the east ridge - easy climbing at UIAA grade II, glacier equipment and experience required, difficulty: demanding
• Via the north ridge from the Sonklarscharte - the historic normal route, now rarely used due to increasingly loose rock
• As a ridge traverse from the Siegerlandhütte (2,710 m) to the south

Practical information

• Base huts are the Müllerhütte (Rifugio Cima Libera, 3,143 m) or the Becherhaus (3,190 m)
• The Sonklarscharte can no longer be reached directly from the Übeltalferner due to glacier retreat
• This is a glacier tour requiring appropriate equipment and mountaineering skills

The peak is named after the Austrian military geographer Carl Albrecht Sonklar von Innstädten, and was first climbed on 5 August 1869 by Richard Gutberlet and his companions.