It is located between the Lechtal Alps on the west and the Mieming Mountains on the east.

The pass lies between the Grubigstein (2233 m) on the northwest, the Wannig (2493 m) on the southeast, and the Loreakopf (2471 m) on the west.

as a consequence of the strong temperature increase and intense run-off after the end of the last deglaciation, pollen analysis performed as early as 1940 had already indicated an age of not much more than 4,000 years (i.e., an event date around 2000 BC), an estimate that was essentially confirmed by radiocarbon dating in the 1960s.

Using uranium-thorium dating, scientists from Innsbruck University who published their data in 2007 dated the event to 4,150 +/- 100 years B.P., i.e., to the 22nd century BC which corresponds to the latest stages of the Alpine neolithic period.

The first regular road crossing the Fern Pass was the Roman Via Claudia Augusta, connecting the province of Raetia to northern Italy.