Strahlkogel

The Strahlkogel, at , is the highest peak in the Larstiger Mountains (Larstiger Berge), a subgroup of the Stubai Alps in the Austrian state of Tyrol. The Strahlkogel is also the highest mountain in the municipality of Umhausen. Its name comes from its great, white, light-reflecting, quartz layers, which allegedly cause the mountain to "radiate" (strahlen). It has the shape of a well-proportioned, steep and pointed pyramid. Ascending the Strahlkogel is difficult and it is thus only rarely visited, unlike the neighbouring 3,287-metre-high Breiter Grieskogel. The first ascent of the mountain was in 1833 by Peter Carl Thurwieser, but his route and the precise circumstances of the climb have not been passed on. On 28 August 1887 Ludwig Purtscheller and Fritz Drasch from Salzburg climbed the mountain. Their route led along the west arête. Today, this is the normal route and easiest way to reach the summit.

== Area == The Strahlkogel lies a good five kilometres as the crow flies northeast of Längenfeld in the Ötztal valley and 7 km west-southwest of Lüsens in the Lisenstal valley. It is surrounded by glaciers to the east and west. The steep and heavily crevassed Larstigferner to the east reaches a height of up to 3,200 metres, and in the south lies the flatter, but wider Grasstallferner, that reaches a height of 3,100 metres. Its neighbouring peaks are the 3,287-metre-high Breiter Grießkogel on the ice divide between the Grasstallferner and Grießferner glaciers, the Grasstaller Grießkogel (3,160 m) on the prominent Strahlkogel West Arete, and the Larstigspitze (3,173 m) to the east, separated by the Larstigscharte notch (3,032 m).