Appendix A Route summary table
Appendix B Summits of the Monte Rosa massif
Appendix E Glossary of useful terms
Appendix F Glacier travel and crevasse rescue techniques
The Nordend summit of Monte Rosa
INTRODUCTION
The Monte Rosa massif has inspired not only mountaineers but also poets, writers, visitors and explorers for generations. This mountain range is a visual bastion, dominating viewpoints from valleys on all sides. As Leonardo da Vinci wrote in his Milanese memoirs at the end of the 15th century, the Monte Rosa ‘is so high that it seems almost to overtake the clouds’.
The Tour of Monte Rosa is a journey of dreams, an adventure that goes way beyond a hike or trek, a voyage of discovery in one of the most fascinating Alpine regions. To treat it as a mere walking tour would be to miss out on so much: the varied culture of the Swiss and Italian valleys and mountain villages; the gastronomic specialities which change from one valley to the next; the people encountered; the rich history of the area; the wealth and diversity of plant life and animals.
This is a trek to be savoured. If you do not have time to complete it in a leisurely fashion you may be well advised to do a section one year and leave the rest for another visit, rather than miss out on the chance to immerse yourself fully in the experience.
A great view of Monte Rosa from the Rifugio Oberto Maroli on Stage 6
Monte Rosa is far from being a single summit. This is the biggest massif in Western Europe, comprising ten defined summits which surpass the magical 4000m mark. Although now surrounded on all sides by resorts and mechanical uplift, the ascent of the Monte Rosa peaks remains a challenging undertaking, not to be underestimated. Winter and summer alike, the nearby slopes are home to skiers and tourists, but to reach a Monte Rosa summit you need to be fit and acclimatised. All around are glaciers, seracs and crevasses, and although in good sunny conditions deep snow tracks lead to the summits and give a sense of security, as soon as the fog comes down or the snow starts to fall this area becomes a very serious proposition indeed.
To walk around the Monte Rosa massif is to enjoy all the views and the incredible scenery with none of the dangers and perils associated with ascending the peaks. The Tour flirts just a little with the glaciers as it passes from Italy to Switzerland via the Theodulpass, leading the hiker into the high mountain world of ice and snow. But there are far more demanding ascents than this one on the Tour.
Apart from that short glaciated section this is a trek on non-glaciated ground. It is a wonderful route that climbs up from the valley bases through meadows, past summer farms and grazing cows, onto the higher rocky slopes where only the hardiest animals live, and over passes tucked up against the slopes of glaciated mountains, then descending new valleys, each different in character and scenery.
The region
The Monte Rosa massif forms part of the Pennine Alps (a mountain range in the western part of the Alps), and borders southern Switzerland and northern Italy. The Pennine Alps are located in France (Haute-Savoie), Switzerland (Valais) and Italy (Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta). The Petit Saint Bernard Pass and the Dora Baltea Valley separate them from the Graian Alps; the Simplon Pass separates them from the Lepontine Alps; the Rhône Valley separates them from the Bernese Alps; and the Col de Coux and the Arly Valley separate them from the French Prealps (Aravis and Chablais). The Pennine Alps contain the largest concentration of peaks over 4000m in Europe. The Swiss-Italian frontier forms the Alpine watershed and it is here that the most grandiose summits are to be found, their huge glaciers snaking down into the adjacent valleys: on the Swiss side flowing down to the Rhône, on the Italian draining to the Po.
The enormous barrier of the Pennine Alps represents the pressure zone created when the African tectonic plate collided with the Continental plate. Mountains were forced up and subsequent erosion has produced the spectacular scenery seen today. While very slightly less lofty than their famous neighbour Mont Blanc, peaks such as Liskamm, the ten summits of Monte Rosa, the Täschhorn, the Dom and the Weisshorn, to mention just a few, are at least equal in grandeur and splendour.
The Tour of Monte Rosa visits two countries, Italy and Switzerland. These are mountain regions, initially inhabited by people who probably arrived from other mountain valleys. To some extent cut off from life down on the plains, these regions have maintained their traditions and culture. Life was naturally harsh, especially during the long winter months. A common thread runs through the villages and valleys encountered on the trek – that of sustainable living – surviving on whatever you have locally.
The fabulously blue Gran Lago passed on Stage 2
The Italian regions are the Valle d’Aosta and Piedmont. A close look at a map will reveal that although it is only a day’s walk to get over from Switzerland to Macugnaga or Alagna, for example, it’s a very long drive from the main Italian valleys. This relative inaccessibility gives unique character to these remote Alpine villages. On the Italian side the trek passes through some villages incorporating a Walser settlement. These people have Germanic origins, their ancestors having made the journey to the mountains around AD1000. They settled in many Alpine regions, notably around Alagna and Macugnaga, and still preserve the basics of their original culture.
The Swiss part of the trek is exclusively in the Wallis canton, staying high above the Saas and Matter valleys. The relatively new Europaweg (established 2000) links with the long-existing Höhenweg to make the world’s longest balcony path (at least that’s how it feels) all the way from Saas Fee to Zermatt. While this trail is a visual joy, it does keep the hiker away from some of the charming villages in the valley – it may be that the future Tour of Monte Rosa takes to the valley paths (shown as Stage 8A in this guide) to avoid the Europaweg, which has serious maintenance problems, and the upside of this will be the chance to discover these traditional hamlets. Zermatt and Saas Fee – along with Grächen, which sits between these high-traversing trails – provide a good insight into life in this German-speaking part of Switzerland.
The Monte Rosa massif
When driving up from the lowlands of the Po Valley past Milan on a clear day you will notice a misty mass rearing up in the distance. Soon you will distinguish snowy slopes and rocky buttresses, but even so this huge massif seems completely improbable from the motorway. This is the Monte Rosa massif, and you will better understand its situation and associated culture and weather if you can visualise its exact location. The massif forms the southern extremity of the Pennine Alps, and is the first obstacle encountered when heading up from the southern plains. The massif is shared between Switzerland