Ortler, Mountain summit in South Tyrol, Italy.

Ortler is a 3,905 m summit in South Tyrol, the highest point of the Ortler Alps, built mainly of Hauptdolomit. Its peak rises only about 20 m above the Ortler Plateau, a snow-covered high surface of the Upper Ortler Glacier. Steep rock walls, including the North Ridge or Tabarettakamm, enclose the plateau, and the North Face drops about 1,200 m as an ice wall.

Archduke John of Austria offered a reward for the first ascent of the Ortler, then the highest peak of the empire. On 27 September 1804 the chamois hunter Joseph Pichler, with two companions, left the Tre Fontane above Trafoi, climbed the Bergl and the lower Ortler glacier past the Hintere Wandlen and the "red couloir", and stood on the summit at 10 a.m. Gebhard reached it in 1805 and lit a beacon on top to convince the doubtful valley dwellers.

The name derives from the two Solda farms Außerortl and Innerortl, recorded in 1770 as Ortles spiz; the old dialect form Ortl points to the German personal names Ortnit or Ortwin. Joseph Pichler, a chamois hunter from Val Passiria known as Pseirer Josele, became the mountain's official guide after 1804.

The normal route, opened by Francis Fox Tuckett in 1864, starts from the Payer Hut and climbs the North Ridge (Tabarettakamm) over the Tabarettaspitze, crossing the Marltferner and the upper Ortler glacier to the summit plateau. All routes are demanding high-mountain tours needing glacier equipment and a guide; the North Face is the largest ice wall of the Eastern Alps.

The North Face holds one of the largest ice walls in the Eastern Alps, with routes rarely repeated since their first ascent. Many of these lines remain technically demanding and attract only a few climbers seeking extraordinary challenges.