Geographic setting and description behind it, under a layer of clouds Monte Rosa covers areas on both sides of the border between the Swiss
canton of Valais and the Italian regions of
Piedmont and
Aosta Valley. The main summit of Monte Rosa is the
Dufourspitze. On the Swiss side the town centre of
Zermatt is about north-west and below it. On the Italian side of the massif are located north-east
Macugnaga in the
Valle Anzasca, south-east-south
Alagna Valsesia in the
Valsesia and
Gressoney-La-Trinité in the Val de Gressoney, respectively, away from the summit. The different sides of the mountain greatly differ from each other. The Swiss west side is almost completely covered by large glaciers, tributaries of the large
Gorner Glacier, descending progressively with gentle slopes and forming a large uninhabited glacial valley. The Italian east side consists of a wall overlooking Macugnaga, whose snows feed the
Belvedere Glacier at its base. The southeast face, culminating at the
Signalkuppe, overlooks the piedmontese
Valsesia and the
Val de Gressoney in the autonomous region of Aosta Valley. 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 (the river basins of the
Rhône and the
Po on the Swiss and Italian side, respectively). The connecting point between them is the
Grenzgipfel () right on the border, and therefore also the highest peak on the Italian side. Thus, Monte Rosa is the highest mountain in the Alps whose summit is not on the
main alpine watershed, although it is off by only . The Silbersattel () and Grenzsattel () are the passes located north and south to the summit. The three main secondary summits of Monte Rosa are (from north to south): the
Nordend (; north of the Dufourspitze), the
Zumsteinspitze (; south of the Dufourspitze) and the
Signalkuppe (; ), all of them being positioned right on the Swiss-Italian border. Other secondary summits are the
Parrotspitze (), the
Ludwigshöhe () and the
Vincentpiramid (). All of them originally have German names, since even the Italian valleys used to be inhabited by German-based
Walsers inhabited valleys. Several perpendicular secondary ridges are connected to the central massif, dividing the glaciers that descend towards the
Matter Valley. The ridge called Weissgrat connecting the Nordend with the
Schwarzberghorn () 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 of the Weissgrat lie almost unbroken upon this slope, but as they begin to descend towards the Matter Valley they are divided into two ice streams (the upper
Gorner Glacier and the
Findel Glacier) 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, are the
Stockhorn () and the lower
Gornergrat at . On their south sides is the lower Gorner Glacier, formed by the confluence of all the major (Gornergletscher and Grenzgletscher) and minor tributaries descending from the north, west and south sides of the central Monte Rosa massif, while on the north side, the Findel Glacier descends near the hamlet of
Findeln. Monte Rosa is one of the high mountains surrounding the Matter Valley south of
Stalden. On the southwest to west are
Liskamm,
Zwillinge with Castor and Pollux, the
Breithorn and the
Matterhorn; on the north are the
Weisshorn and the
Dom. The
Gornergrat summit, lying on the north-west at , is a popular viewpoint of the massif, since it is accessible by train from Zermatt, using the highest open-air railway line in Europe. File:Monte Rosa, north side.jpg|The east and north side with the north face of the Nordend (as seen from the
Strahlhorn) File:Dufourspitze from east.jpg|Monte Rosa's east face, as seen from the upper end of Valle Anzasca (Piedmont, Italy) File:Hörnlihütte.jpg|The west side as seen at a distance of from Hörnlihütte, at the foot of the Matterhorn, (in the back from left to right): Rimpfischhorn, Strahlhorn, Findelgletscher, Stockhorn (and Gornergrat below it), upper (on the north side) and lower (on the west side) Gornergletscher – the central Monte Rosa massif – Grenzgletscher, Liskamm and several Breithorn peaks on the south side (2008) File:PanoramaMatter.jpg|Monte Rosa viewed from the summit of the Matterhorn (centre), with the valleys of
Mattertal (left) and
Valtournenche (right) alongside it File:Aerial Photo of Monte Rosa Massif - Wallis - Switzerland (cropped).jpg|Aerial photo of Monte Rosa massif with Gornergletscher on the left and Grenzgletscher on the right. The green spot in the middle is the glacier lake Gornersee (2.599 m)
Geography The extended range of Monte Rosa, which appears to originate in the intersection of two axes of great elevation, throws out a number of ridges that radiate afar and gradually subside into the plain of northern Italy, covering a relatively large area. There is no convenient mode of subdividing the range. However, the natural limits of the district can be defined on the north side by the two branches of the Visp torrent. Following the west branch through the
Mattertal, crossing the
Theodul Pass, descending by the
Valtournanche to
Châtillon and to
Ivrea, and passing around the base of the mountains by
Arona, along
Lake Maggiore, and up the valley of the
Toce, to
Vogogna, then ascending by the Val Anzasca to the
Monte Moro Pass, the circuit is completed by the descent through the
Saastal to
Stalden. Within the line so traced, exceeding in length, all the ranges properly belonging to this group are included. The deformation of the Monte Rosa granites indicates a depth of
subduction of about . They were brought to the surface by
tectonic uplift, which still continues today. The summit is a sharp, jagged edge of mica schist connected by an arête with the Nordend, but cut off from the Zumsteinspitze to the south by nearly vertical rocks about in height.
Climate Being the highest point in Switzerland, Monte Rosa is also one of the most extreme places. The average air pressure is about half of that of the sea level (56%) and the temperature can reach as low as . Owing to the frequent prevalence of a high wind from the east or north-east, and the slow pace at which it is possible to move when near the top, precautions against cold are particularly necessary when climbing Monte Rosa. The
snow line is located at about . == Tourism ==