Monte Rosa Massif

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The Monterosa is a vast massif in the Pennine Alps on the border between Switzerland and Italy. Its main peak, the Dufour peak is 4,634 m with the highest point in Switzerland and also the entire German-speaking world. The border summit with 4618 m ( south of the 4,515 m high silver saddle ) is the highest peak of Monte Rosa in Italy.

Description

The Monte Rosa is one of about two -thirds to Italy and about one third of Switzerland. From Piedmont ago Anzasca Valley and Valle Sesia reach up to the eastern foot of the massif. The 2200 and 1500 m high east walls of Monte Rosa here each form the head of the valley - in the case of the Anzascatals Macugnagawand and in the case of the Valle Sesia the Sesiawand ( Tavolo Valsesiana ). From the south, from the Valle d'Aosta ago, the valley of Gressoney ( Lys Valley ) to the southwest edge of Monte Rosa, which is most easily accessible via Lisgletscher here goes. In the northwest cause of Zermatt, at the beginning of the Matter valley in the Valais, the valleys of the Gorner glacier and jagged Grenzgletscher up in the summit region of Mount Rosa.

A total of about ten peaks of Monte Rosa are calculated depending on how you count. In addition to the main summit of Punta Dufour he covers with secondary peaks Northrend ( 4609 m), the Zumsteinspitze ( 4563 m), the signal crest ( 4554 m), the Parrot peak ( 4432 m), the Ludwig altitude ( 4341 m), the Black Horn ( 4322 m), the Vincent pyramid ( 4215 m), and the Balmenhorn ( 4167 m) and Punta Giordani ( 4046 m) summit, which are among the highest in the Alps. Only the Mont Blanc massif is even higher, but it has a result of major glaciation less named peaks over 4500 m and decreases in comparison no longer a surface.

The Monte Rosa dominates the entire western Upper Italy and therefore its name. This does not move directly from the color of the glacier in the morning and evening light here, but rouese of the word (meaning the Franco- Provençal of Valle d'Aosta ) in " patois " means " glacier ".

From Switzerland, the Monte Rosa, however, is mainly from the Ticino and visible from the heights above Zermatt. The Italians are also partly the Liskamm yet to Monte Rosa, since he seems disconnected from the southeast from the less massive than from the northwest.

Naming

The most visible of the Switzerland Dufour was formerly the name Gornerhorn, but was renamed in honor of General Guillaume -Henri Dufour Swiss.

Note the nomenclature in the area of ​​Monte Rosa. The massif itself has an Italian name. A German name apparently does not exist. Mind the individual peaks, one and all German names, and only in individual cases Italian names exist, especially subsequent Italienisierungen. This also applies to the whole on Italian soil or from there developed and named summit Zumsteinspitze, Balmenhorn and Vincent pyramid and for the Liskamm, also for the appendage Fillarhorn, hunter horn and Punta Grober. The background is that of Monte Rosa is inhabited by German-speaking Upper Welshmen and ( in some places even all three valleys of the Italian side ) Walser (most Alemannic dialects ) since the Middle Ages around. This apparently influenced the names of the individual peaks, while the massifs such as particularly from the Italian lowlands makes its appearance.

In French the mountain Montrose is called, so the common name of the mountain simply translated or colored (similar Mont Blanc - Monte Bianco ). Two of the neighboring regions, both Wallis and Aosta Valley are predominantly ( in the Aosta Valley seen historically at least ) French-speaking ( and Franco-Provençal ) - though not in the immediate vicinity of the mountain. Nevertheless, the Italian naming seems to be the most influential.

The Monte Rosa Hut SAC stands at 2'883 m above sea level. M. at the northwestern foot of the Monte Rosa range, on a sloping plateau, which is called " Plattje ". For the 150th anniversary of the ETH Zurich was the " mountain hut of the future " built in 2008. The new hut replaced the nearly 100 m below the mountain hut of 1894.

The Signalkuppe / Punta Gnifetti carries the highest hut in the Alps, the Capanna Regina Margherita ( 4554 m). On this so-called " headache crate " height several medical research projects have already been realized.

Ascents

The first documented high tour in the high region of the Monte Rosa took in 1778, 1779 and 1780 Walser from Gressoney in search of the one described in their legends treasure " lost valley " ( verlorus Täli ). They came up on the top Lisgletscher ( discoverer rock / della Roccia Scoperta, 4'178 m). Was first climbed the valleys of Gressoney and Alagna nearest Punta Giordani Pietro Giordani by 1801. Followed the Vincent Pyramid by, inter alia, their patron Johann Nikolaus Vincent on 5 August 1819 and the Zumsteinspitze by, inter alia, Joseph and Johann Nicholas Vincent, Joseph Zumstein, Molinatti and Castel on August 1, 1820, both on the Lisgletscher. The other high peaks followed later: The Signalkuppe reached after three failed attempts, the pastor of Alagna, with Giovanni Gnifetti, Giuseppe Farinetti, Cristoforo Ferraris, Cristoforo Grober, the brothers Giovanni Giacobbe Giordani, and two carriers. The ascent of the Dufour peak was from the Swiss side on August 1, 1855 by Charles Hudson, John Birbeck and Christopher and James G. Smyth with Ulrich Lauener and John and Matthew Zumtaugwald. The Northrend followed on August 26, 1861, the Parrotspitze on August 16, 1863. 1893 built the CAI on the Signalkuppe Capanna Regina Margherita.

Mountaineering Risch ( and for steep wall skiers ) of Monte Rosa is especially interesting because of its east walls. The easily accessible high summits between Zumsteinspitze and Ludwigshoehe are crowded in good weather at times.

The usual access is today, as far as it comes to the central and southern summit, from the Passo dei Salati ( 2936 m) at the southern end of the massif ago. On it goes from Alagna in the farthest Valle Sesia a cable car and Gressoney her a lift. If your resort is open in the winter, you can currently easily go up by cable car to Punta Indren - this option is often used by freeride skiers and ski mountaineers as a welcome rise of help on the way to Gnifetti hut ( or Mantova - hut). From Passo dei Salati the climb over the insured with fixed ropes Stolemberg leads to Lisgletscher, which can be exhausting reached directly from Gressoney ago. The two northern peaks, Northrend and Dufour are predominantly approached from Zermatt forth over the Monte Rosa Hut, which is accessible from the station Rotenboden the Gornergrat Bahn from.

Geology

The entire massif consists mainly of granites and granite gneisses, which in turn consist mainly of quartz, K-feldspar, albite and muscovite. Since the metamorphosis of such rocks occurs at a greater depth, this suggests that the entire area was once much deeper and was later promoted to the surface. This was done first in the form of a tectonic ceiling, the Monte Rosa ceiling. After the thrust of the ceiling to the now underlying rocks of the entire stack was high jacked again in a second mountain building phase.

Formation

Before about 100 million years ago, in the mid-Cretaceous time, today's Iberian Peninsula has been moved by the opening of the North Atlantic to the southeast, separated from Europe, an independent micro- continent (Iberia ), whose northern tip represented the so-called Briançonnais Peninsula, from the finally also the Monte Rosa massif originated. To the north it came to the opening of a new ocean, the Valais Ocean ( Valais Ocean ). In the south of Iberia was another ocean, the Piedmont Ocean, also known as Alpine Tethys.

At the same time, part of the great African plate smaller Apulian plate ( Apulia ), which formed the southern shore of this ocean began to move to the north - and much faster than her mother African continent so that Apulia broke away from Africa. Due to the resulting pincer movement between the located in north Iberia and the approaching south of Apulia, the Piedmont Ocean inevitably had to close: On its southern edge, he began to subduct under the Apulian continental margin.

After Piedmont Ocean and the Briançonnais then also the Valais Ocean was included in the subduction. In the Eocene ( 50-40 million years ago ) finally began the clash between Apulia, the lying in front of and below its northern edge subducted residues on one side and Europe on the other. During the formation of mountains ( orogenesis ) 35 million years ago the mutual thrust of rocks thickened continental crust, the rocks fell off, fell into greater depth and were strong pressures and exposed to great heat. This made them more plastic rock associations were set in motion, superimposed and were deformed. At this time arose the tectonic ceiling, so the Monte Rosa ceiling. 20 million years ago led a strong deformation of the Penninikums for final folding and uplift, it began the erosion of the Alps, which led to the visible today rugged mountains.