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Matterhorn Skyway Straight On
The (, ; it, Cervino, ; french: Cervin, ; rm, Matterhorn) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, whose summit is high, making it one of the highest summits in the Alps and Europe.Considering summits with at least 300 metres prominence, it is the 6th highest in the Alps and Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains. The four steep faces, rising above the surrounding glaciers, face the four compass points and are split by the ''Hörnli'', ''Furggen'', ''Leone''/''Lion'', and ''Zmutt'' ridges. The mountain overlooks the Swiss town of Zermatt, in the canton of Valais, to the northeast; and the Italian town of Breuil-Cervinia in the Aosta Valley to the south. Just east of the Matterhorn is Theodul Pass, the main passage between the two valleys on its north and south sides, which has been a trade route since the Roman Era. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Topographic Prominence
In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling it but containing no higher summit within it. It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peak's ''key col'' (the highest col surrounding the peak) is a unique point on this contour line and the ''parent peak'' is some higher mountain, selected according to various criteria. Definitions The prominence of a peak may be defined as the least drop in height necessary in order to get from the summit to any higher terrain. This can be calculated for a given peak in the following way: for every path connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the path; the ''key col'' (or ''key Saddle point, saddle'', or ''linking col'', or ''link'') is defined as the highest of these points, along all connecting pat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Hudson (climber)
Charles Hudson (4 October 1828 – 14 July 1865) was an Anglican chaplain and mountain climber from Skillington, Lincolnshire, England. Hudson was one of the most important climbers of the golden age of alpinism. An immensely strong walker, he claimed amongst his climbs the first ascent of Monte Rosa in 1855, the first official ascent of Mont Blanc du Tacul in 1855, the first completed passage of the Mönchjoch in 1858, the first ascent of Mont Blanc by the Goûter route (incomplete) in 1859 with E. S. Kennedy and party, and the second ascent of the Aiguille Verte (the first by the Moine ridge) in 1865 (with T. S. Kennedy and Michel Croz). He is also considered a pioneer of English guideless climbing in the western Alps, having made the first guideless ascent of Mont Blanc in 1855 and a guideless ascent of the Breithorn. Matterhorn accident During the first ascent of the Matterhorn on 14 July 1865 Hudson was killed in a notorious accident during the descent. Edward Whymper w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breuil-Cervinia
Breuil-Cervinia (french: Breuil; it, Cervinia; Valdôtain: ) is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Valtournenche, and is considered one of the most renowned winter and summer tourist resorts in the Alps. Etymology The name of ''Breuil-Cervinia'' is a fusion of two terms: ''Breuil'', in French, the original name of the place before the tourist settlement was built, derived from Valdôtain dialect ''Breuill'' indicating a marshy mountain terrain, a very common toponym throughout the Aosta Valley; and ''Cervinia'', the toponym that was given the town following the process of italianization of placenames in the Aosta Valley wanted by the fascist government, referring to the Cervin (fr.) or Cervino (it.), the Matterhorn. Geography Breuil-Cervinia lies at above sea level, at the foot of the Matterhorn, in the Valtournenche valley and surrounded by the Jumeaux, the Château des Dames, the Furggen and the Grandes Murailles summits. It shares a ski area with Zermatt through the Plat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canton Of Valais
Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion. The flag of the canton is made of thirteen stars representing the districts, on a white-red background. Valais is situated in the southwestern part of the country. It borders the cantons of Vaud and Bern to the north, the cantons of Uri and Ticino to the east, as well as Italy to the south and France to the west. It is one of the three large southern Alpine cantons, along with Ticino and the Grisons, which encompass a vast diversity of ecosystems. It is a bilingual canton, French and German being its two official languages. Traditionally, the canton is divided into Lower, Central, and Upper Valais, the latter region constituting the German ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zermatt
Zermatt () is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is classified as a town by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO). It lies at the upper end of Mattertal at an elevation of , at the foot of Switzerland's highest peaks. It lies about from the over high Theodul Pass bordering Italy. Zermatt is the southernmost commune of the German ''Sprachraum''. Zermatt is famed as a mountaineering and ski resort of the Swiss Alps. Until the mid-19th century, it was predominantly an agricultural community; the first and tragic ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865 was followed by a rush on the mountains surrounding the village, leading to the construction of many tourist facilities. The year-round population () is , though there may be several times as many tourists in Zermatt at any one time. Much of the local economy is based on tourism, with about half of the jobs in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caucasus Mountains
The Caucasus Mountains, : pronounced * hy, Կովկասյան լեռներ, : pronounced * az, Qafqaz dağları, pronounced * rus, Кавка́зские го́ры, Kavkázskiye góry, kɐfˈkasːkʲɪje ˈɡorɨ * tr, Kafkas Dağları, * fa, كوه هاى قفقاز are a mountain range at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, they are surrounded by the Caucasus region and are home to Mount Elbrus, the list of elevation extremes by region, highest peak in Europe at above sea level. The Caucasus Mountains include the Greater Caucasus in the north and Lesser Caucasus in the south. The Greater Caucasus runs west-northwest to east-southeast, from the Western Caucasus, Caucasian Natural Reserve in the vicinity of Sochi, Russia on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea to Baku, Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea. The Lesser Caucasus runs parallel to the Greater about south. The Greater and Lesser Caucasus ranges are co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. Comprising the westernmost peninsulas of Eurasia, it shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with both Africa and Asia. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and Asia to the east. Europe is commonly considered to be Boundaries between the continents of Earth#Asia and Europe, separated from Asia by the drainage divide, watershed of the Ural Mountains, the Ural (river), Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Greater Caucasus, the Black Sea and the waterways of the Turkish Straits. "Europe" (pp. 68–69); "Asia" (pp. 90–91): "A commonly accepted division between Asia and E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyramidal Peak
A pyramidal peak, sometimes called a glacial horn in extreme cases, is an angular, sharply pointed mountain peak which results from the cirque erosion due to multiple glaciers diverging from a central point. Pyramidal peaks are often examples of nunataks. Formation Glaciers, typically forming in drainages on the sides of a mountain, develop bowl-shaped basins called cirques (sometimes called ‘corries’ - from Scottish Gaelic ʰəɾə(a bowl) - or s). Cirque glaciers have rotational sliding that abrades the floor of the basin more than walls and that causes the bowl shape to form. As cirques are formed by glaciation in an alpine environment, the headwall and ridges between parallel glaciers called arêtes become more steep and defined. This occurs due to freeze/thaw and mass wasting beneath the ice surface. It is widely held that a common cause for headwall steepening and extension headward is the crevasses known as bergschrund that occur between the moving ice and the he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Main Chain Of The Alps
The main chain of the Alps, also called the Alpine divide is the central line of mountains that forms the drainage divide of the range. Main chains of mountain ranges are traditionally designated in this way, and generally include the highest peaks of a range. The Alps are something of an unusual case in that several significant groups of mountains are separated from the main chain by sizable distances. Among these groups are the Dauphine Alps, the Eastern and Western Graians, the entire Bernese Alps, the Tödi, Albula and Silvretta groups, the Ortler and Adamello ranges, and the Dolomites of South Tyrol, as well as the lower Alps of Vorarlberg, Bavaria, and Salzburg. Main features The Alpine Divide is defined for much of its distance by the watershed between the drainage basin of the Po in Italy on one side, with the other side of the divide being formed by the Rhone, the Rhine and the Danube. Further east, the watershed is between the Adige and the Danube, before heading ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia. The Alpine arch generally extends from Nice on the western Mediterranean to Trieste on the Adriatic and Vienna at the beginning of the Pannonian Basin. The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn. Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains 128 peaks higher than . The altitude and size of the range affect the climate in Europe; in the mountains, precipitation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and is usually higher than a hill, typically rising at least 300 metres (1,000 feet) above the surrounding land. A few mountains are Monadnock, isolated summits, but most occur in mountain ranges. Mountain formation, Mountains are formed through Tectonic plate, tectonic forces, erosion, or volcanism, which act on time scales of up to tens of millions of years. Once mountain building ceases, mountains are slowly leveled through the action of weathering, through Slump (geology), slumping and other forms of mass wasting, as well as through erosion by rivers and glaciers. High elevations on mountains produce Alpine climate, colder climates than at sea level at similar latitude. These colder climates strongly affect the Montane ecosystems, ecosys ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Taugwalder
Peter Taugwalder (4 April 1820 – 10 July 1888) was a Swiss mountaineer and guide. Along with his son of the same name, Taugwalder was one of seven men that made the first ascent of the Matterhorn in July 1865. He was also one of the three men that survived the descent, along with his son and Edward Whymper. A native of Zermatt, Taugwalder also made the first ascent of Pollux (1864) and the Hohberghorn (1869). Other notable climbs include the second ascent of the Dunantspitze The Dunantspitze (German for "Peak Dunant", 4,632 m), formerly called Ostspitze ("Eastern Peak"), is a peak of the Monte Rosa Massif in the Pennine Alps in Switzerland. It is the second highest peak of the massif, after the Dufourspitze (4, ... (1851) and the Ober Gabelhorn (1865). Following the disastrous first ascent of the Matterhorn in which four men died, Taugwalder's conduct was the subject of an investigation in which he was cleared of responsibility. Nonetheless, Taugwalder suffered fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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