Hochjochferner, Alpine glacier between Sölden, Austria and Schnals, Italy.
Hochjochferner is a glacier in the Ötztal Alps between the Schnalstal and Venter Tal, stretching from the Grawandspitze (3251 m) and Fineilspitze (3514 m) down to the Hochjoch saddle and into the Rofental. Its area was about 6 km² in 2006, it measures roughly 3 km from the Grawand, reaches a maximum thickness of 45 m and drops 720 m in elevation. Almost all of it lies in Italian territory, with only its northernmost fringes reaching Austria.
At the end of the Little Ice Age, the glacier tongue reached the old Hochjoch-Hospiz below the Sennkogel, which was replaced in 1927 by the hut on the opposite slope. Since then the ice has retreated over 3 km. The Schöne-Aussicht-Hütte, built in 1890, once stood where the glacier broke over a rock step; that area is now ice-free and holds a lake.
The glacier's western section, about 30 hectares, served as a year-round ski area until 2012; since then it has operated in winter only. It is one of eleven lifts in the Alpin Area Senales ski resort, which offered summer skiing until 2013. The cable car from Maso Corto (Kurzras) reaches the ice near the Croda delle Cornacchie.
A cable car system connects the valleys to higher regions and provides access to the glacier area. The best visiting season runs from June through September, when trails are passable and conditions are safest.
The glacier's retreat has left two lakes behind: one now fills the hollow where ice once broke over a rock step by the Schöne-Aussicht-Hütte of 1890, and a second was dammed by the left lateral moraine of the branch flowing down from the Fineilköpfe.
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