Outdoor sports
Alpinism – Monte Rosa - Punta Dufour (Vc)
Category: Mountain Climbing
If there is any peak in the Alps that can compare in majesty to the summits of the Himalayas, it is Monte Rosa with its great eastern wall which slopes, at a 2,500 meter incline, toward Macugnaga. Punta Dufour with its 4,637 meter elevation, is the summit located between Colle Zumstein and Silbersattel – the Sella d’Argento (Silver Saddle). The view one enjoys from the top is incomparable. A 360 degree panorama that gets lost in the horizontal lines of the Pianura Padana (Po Plains) and the vertical lines of the chain that unites Monviso to Monte Bianco and, from there, continues toward the peaks of the Oberland Bernese and the massifs of the Ortles. The most elegant and secluded route to reach the summit of the Dufour top is the one that follows the marked and steep rocky southwest spur which Eustace Hulton, along with John Moser and Peter Rubi, climbed for the first time in 1874. At the base of the ascent is the Capanna Gnifetti which one reaches from Alagna. It is an interesting and safe climb, medium difficulty, on a 450 meter incline of solid rock.
The massif of Monte Rosa became, between the 19th and 20th century, an international scientific research center on the study of mountains and high altitudes. In 1893, in fact, the Regina Margherita capanna (cabin), the highest European refuge, located at an altitude of 4,552 meters on Punta Gnifetti and Signal Kuppe, was inaugurated.
Starting Point: Pian del Re
Elevation: 4,637 meters
Incline: 500 meters
Exposure: South/West
Cartography: IGC Map #10 Monterosa, Alagna, and Macugnaga, 1:50,000
Difficulty: D (Difficile/difficult)
70 degree slopes on ice; grade IV routes on rock; long descent; probable dangerous objects
How to Arrive: in Piemonte and in the Vercelli area
Information
Atl Valsesia Vercelli
Piazza Grober, 1 - 13021 Alagna Valsesia (Vc)
Tel. +39.0163.922988 - Fax: +39.0163.91202
E-mail: infoalagna@atlvalsesiavercelli.it
www.atlvalsesiavercelli.it
