Dent Blanche
Dent Blanche from the east, left the south ridge ( normal route ), the right of the east ridge ( " Viereselsgrat " )
Matterhorn and Dent Blanche
Dent Blanche from the northwest, from the Val d' Hérensbdep2
The Dent Blanche is a largely ice-free mountain peaks in the Pennine Alps, in the south of the canton of Valais, about 10 km west of Zermatt. With a height of almost 4'357 m above sea level. M. is the Dent Blanche in sixteenth place of the highest peaks of the Valais. About the Dent Blanche and the language border between French and German in the Upper Valais runs.
Name
Very likely lies with the Dent Blanche ( " White Tooth " ) before a name confusion with the Hérens which is committed by a monk in the copy of a map a long time ago. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the Hérens is visible from the Val d' Hérens only in very few places, while the Dent Blanche significantly less white than the firn Hérens.
A German name for the Dent Blanche now no longer in use. However, historical records, the name " Ibex Horn ".
Location
From the top of the mighty pyramid of the Dent Blanche four ridges run exactly in the four cardinal directions, the ridge to the south is not quite as steep pronounced and gradually being phased out in the ridge of the Wandfluh. The Dent Blanche, along with its eastern neighbor peaks Obergabelhorn Zinalrothorn the southern end of the valley and the Val de Zinal, part of the valley system of the Val d' Anniviers. To the west of the mountain starts the Val d' Hérens, in the valley at the southeast foot of the Dent Blanche, the Zmutt Glacier, flowing off the meltwater to Zermatt and then extends through the Matter.
The northeast flank of the Dent Blanche is glaciated almost to the summit. For all other edges of the glacier ice reaches no higher than 3,700 m. On the western slope of the Dent Blanche extend two short, 1 to more than 2 km long glacier: Glacier de la Dent Blanche and the Glacier des Manzettes. At the foot of the south-eastern flank, the 4 km long Schönbiel glacier, a northern tributary glaciers of the Zmuttgletschers its origin. To the northeast in the direction of Val de Zinal pours the Glacier du Grand Cornier, which joins together with other glaciers to Zinalgletscher.
Geology
Geologic forms the Dent Blanche together with the neighboring peaks ( including also include the Matterhorn ) a cliff in the Eastern Alpine ceilings. This isolated the rest of the otherwise almost exclusively occurring in the Eastern Alps tectonic ceiling was originally a part of the African plate. The so-called Dent- Blanche- ceiling consists of metamorphic rocks ( gneiss and gabbro ) and contrasts strongly with greenish rocks of the ophiolites in the Pennine ceilings, which are below the Dent- Blanche- ceiling and are digested in the valleys.
Bases
South of the Dent Blanche at an altitude of 3'507 m above sea level. M. is the Cabane de la Dent Blanche, a hut of the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC ). She can be reached from Val d' Hérens over the Glacier des Manzettes. From here, the normal route via the south ridge to the summit.
First ascent
The mountain was climbed for the first time in the July 18, 1862 by Thomas Stuart Kennedy, William and C. Wigram with the leaders Jean -Baptiste Croz and Johann Kronig along the southern ridge ( " Wandfluhgrat ").
Routes
South ridge ( normal route ) ( " Wandfluhgrat " )
- Difficulty: ZS, III ( French scale: AD, with III UIAA level rock climbing. )
- Time: 4 hours
- Starting point: Cabane de la Dent Blanche ( 3'507 m asl. )
- Valley location: Ferpècle ( 1'766 m asl. )
Ostnordostgrat ( " Viereselsgrat " )
- Difficulty: S, III ( French scale. D, with III UIAA level rock climbing)
- Time: 9 hours
- Starting point: Schönbielhütte ( 2,694 m asl. )
- Valley location: Zermatt ( 1'609 m asl. )
West Ridge ( " Ferpèclegrat " )
- Difficulty: S , IV ( French scale. D , with IV UIAA level rock climbing)
- Time: 7 hours
- Starting point: Cabane de la Dent Blanche ( 3'507 m asl. )
- Valley location: Ferpècle ( 1'766 m asl. )