Ötztal Alps in the context of "Ötzi"

A mountain hut is a building located at high elevation, in mountainous terrain, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. Mountain huts are usually operated by an alpine club or some organization dedicated to hiking or mountain recreation. They are known by many names, including alpine hut, mountain shelter, mountain refuge, mountain lodge, and mountain hostel. It may also be called a refuge hut, although these occur in lowland areas (e.g. lowland forests) too.

Mountain huts can provide a range of services, starting with shelter and simple sleeping berths. Some, particularly in remote areas, are not staffed, but others have staff which prepare meals and drinks and can provide other services, including providing lectures and selling clothing and small items. Permanent staffing is not possible above the highest permanent human settlements, which are 5500m at the latitude of Everest (27°59′, similar to Corpus Christi, Texas) but lower than 3500m at the latitude of Mont Blanc (45°50', similar to Montreal, Quebec). Permanent staffing has been tried long ago e.g. at Vallot Hut (4362 m, .58 atm) in 1890-91 but had to stop after heart or lung problems apparently due to altitude and cold combined. Mountain huts usually allow anybody to access their facilities, although some require reservations.

A glacier (US: /ˈɡleɪʃər/; UK: /ˈɡlæsiə/ or /ˈɡleɪsiə/) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as crevasses and seracs, as it slowly flows and deforms under stresses induced by its weight. As it moves, it abrades rock and debris from its substrate to create landforms such as cirques, moraines, or fjords. Although a glacier may flow into a body of water, it forms only on land and is distinct from the much thinner sea ice and lake ice that form on the surface of bodies of water.

On Earth, 99% of glacial ice is contained within vast ice sheets (also known as "continental glaciers") in the polar regions, but glaciers may be found in mountain ranges on every continent other than the Australian mainland, including Oceania's high-latitude oceanic island countries such as New Zealand. Between latitudes 35°N and 35°S, glaciers occur only in the Himalayas, Andes, and a few high mountains in East Africa, Mexico, New Guinea and on Zard-Kuh in Iran. With more than 7,000 known glaciers, Pakistan has more glacial ice than any other country outside the polar regions. Glaciers cover about 10% of Earth's land surface. Continental glaciers cover nearly 13 million km (5 million sq mi) or about 98% of Antarctica's 13.2 million km (5.1 million sq mi), with an average thickness of ice 2,100 m (7,000 ft). Greenland and Patagonia also have huge expanses of continental glaciers. The volume of glaciers, not including the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland, has been estimated at 170,000 km.

Tyrol (/tɪˈroʊl, taɪˈroʊl, ˈtaɪroʊl/ tih-ROHL, ty-ROHL, TY-rohl; German: Tirol [tiˈroːl] ; Italian: Tirolo [tiˈrɔːlo]) is an Austrian state. It consists of two non-contiguous parts, North Tyrol and East Tyrol, separated by the Austrian state of Salzburg and the Italian province of South Tyrol, which was part of Tyrol until 1919. It is a constituent part of the present-day Euroregion Tyrol–South Tyrol–Trentino (together with South Tyrol and Trentino in Italy). The capital of Tyrol is Innsbruck.

Tyrol is dominated by high mountain ranges, including the Ötztal Alps, the Zillertal Alps, and the Kitzbühel Alps, with the Grossglockner and other major Alpine peaks nearby. The region is traversed by important rivers such as the Inn and the Isel, and is noted for its valleys, glaciers, and alpine passes. Its strategic location has historically made Tyrol a key transit region between northern and southern Europe, with the Brenner Pass serving as one of the most important north–south routes across the Alps since Roman times.

Wildspitze (German pronunciation: [ˈvɪltˌʃpɪt͡sə] ) is the highest mountain in the Ötztal Alps and in North Tyrol, as well as the second highest mountain in Austria after Großglockner and in terms of prominence (2261 m) is the fourth summit of the Alps and the fifteenth of Europe.