Monte Rosa - Geographic Setting and Description

Geographic Setting and Description

See also: Monte Rosa Massif Location in Europe

Monte Rosa lies in the municipality of Zermatt, on the south-eastern side of the Swiss canton of Valais. However the mountain lies a little closer to the village of Macugnaga, on the Italian eastern side (8 km) than to the village of Zermatt on the western side (12 km). Other inhabited regions close to the massif are the valleys of Alagna and Gressoney both on the Italian southern side. The west and north side greatly differs from the south and east side. The former is almost completely covered by large glaciers, tributaries of the 57 km² large Gorner Glacier, descending progressively with gentle slopes. Thus the valley is uninhabitated and Zermatt, the first settlement, lies far away from the summit. The latter is a nearly 2.5 km-high wall lying above Macugnaga.

The mountain is mainly covered by eternal snows and glaciers, except for its summit which is a rocky ridge orientated west–east, near to and perpendicular to the main watershed between Switzerland and Italy (Rhône River and Po River basins on the Swiss and Italian side respectively). The connecting point between them is the Grenzgipfel, the highest summit on the Italian side. Thus Monte Rosa is the highest mountain whose summit is not on the main alpine watershed. The Silbersattel and Grenzsattel are the passes located north and south to the summit. In addition several secondary summits are located close: the Nordend (4,609 m), the Zumsteinspitze (4,563 m) and the Signalkuppe (4,554 m).

Several perpendicular secondary ridges are connected to the main ridge dividing the glaciers that descend towards the Mattertal.The wall connecting the Signalkuppe with the Cima di Jazzi presents a wall of formidable precipices towards the east, but falls away in a gentle slope to the west. For a breadth of a few kilometres the upper snow-fields lie almost unbroken upon this slope, but as they begin to descend towards the main valley they are divided into two icestreams by a ridge which gradually emerges from the névé, and finally presents a rather bold front to the glaciers on either side. The highest points of this ridge, appearing insignificant by contrast with the grand objects around, is the Stockhorn and the Gornergrat. On its south side is the Gorner Glacier, formed by the confluence of all the minor glaciers descending from the north and west sides of the Monte Rosa range, while on the north side the Findel Glacier descends near to the hamlet of Findeln.

Monte Rosa is one of the high mountains surrounding the 40 km long Matter valley south of Visp. On the west are Lyskamm, Zwillinge, the Breithorn and the Matterhorn; on the north are the Weisshorn and the Dom. The Gornergrat summit, lying 8 km on the north-west at 3,100 metres, is a popular view point of the massif since it is accessible by train from Zermatt, using the highest open air railway line in Europe.

Because of the low elevation of the mountains to the south, the 2,165 m (7,103 ft) prominence of Monte Rosa is well visible from the plains of Lombardy.