The Zinalrothorn (4,221 m) is a

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 area, and is usually higher t ...

in the Pennine

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, ...

in Switzerland. Its name comes from the village of Zinal lying on the north side and from the German word ''Rothorn'' which means ''Red Peak''. When it was first climbed in 1864 the mountain was known locally as ''Moming''.

Geography

The Zinalrothorn is one of the high summits separating the

Matter In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic par ...

valley on the east and the Val d'Anniviers (or more precisely the Val de Zinal) on the west. The summit of the

Weisshorn The Weisshorn (German, lit. ''white peak/mountain'') is a major peak of Switzerland and the Alps, culminating at above sea level. It is part of the Pennine Alps and is located between the valleys of Anniviers and Zermatt in the canton of Va ...

(4,505 m) is located 5 km to the north and the

Dent Blanche The Dent Blanche is a mountain in the Pennine Alps, lying in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. At -high, it is one of the highest peaks in the Alps. Naming The original name was probably ''Dent d'Hérens'', the current name of the nearby De ...

7 km to the west. At the western foot of the mountain lies the large Zinal Glacier and, on the northern side, the

Moming Glacier The Moming Glacier (french: Glacier de Moming) is a 3 km long glacier (2005) situated in the Pennine Alps in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. In 1973 it had an area of 6.39 km2. See also *List of glaciers in Switzerland *Swiss Alps ...

. L'Epaule (the shoulder) is a minor summit lying at the base of the northern ridge. The villages of Täsch and

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 ...

are the closest while Zinal on the north-west is located further (9 km).

Climbing history

The first ascent was made on 22 August 1864 via the north ridge by Leslie Stephen and Florence Crauford Grove with guides Jakob Anderegg and

Melchior Anderegg Melchior Anderegg (28 March 1828 – 8 December 1914), from Zaun, Meiringen, was a Swiss mountain guide and the first ascensionist of many prominent mountains in the western Alps during the golden and silver ages of alpinism. His clients were ...

(AD). They left Zinal at 1 a.m. and ascended the Zinal Glacier. They reached the shoulder from the ridge connecting the

Blanc de Moming The Blanc de Moming is a mountain of the Pennine Alps, located south of Zinal in the canton of Valais. It lies between the Besso and the Zinalrothorn The Zinalrothorn (4,221 m) is a mountain in the Pennine Alps in Switzerland. Its name come ...

at the base of the northern ridge at 9 a.m. The traverse of the ridge to the summit took them 2 hours, Stephen wrote later that it was 'the nastiest piece of climbing I have ever accomplished'.Helmut Dumler,Willi P. Burkhardt, ''Les 4000 des Alpes'', The slightly less difficult normal route, the south-east ridge, was first climbed by the combined parties of

Clinton Thomas Dent Clinton Thomas Dent Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons, FRCS (7 December 1850 – 26 August 1912) was an English surgeon, author and mountaineering, mountaineer. Early life The fourth surviving son of Thomas Dent, he was educated at E ...

with guide

Alexander Burgener Alexander Burgener Alexander Burgener (10 January 1845, Saas Fee – 8 July 1910, near the Berglihütte) was a Swiss mountain guide and the first ascentionist of many mountains and new routes in the western Alps during the silver age of alpinism ...

, and George Augustus Passingham, with guides Ferdinand Imseng and Franz Andermatten on 5 September 1872. The first winter and ski ascent was by Marcel Kurz and T. Theytaz on 7 February 1914. In the 1880s Mrs Aubrey Le Blond, the first president of the Ladies' Alpine Club, left her detachable skirt by mistake up the Zinalrothorn. To preserve her modesty, she made the decision to climb the mountain a second time to retrieve it rather than return to Zermatt in trousers.

References

Bibliography

* Dumler, Helmut and Willi P. Burkhardt, ''The High Mountains of the Alps'', London: Diadem, 1994 * Collomb, Robin G., (ed.), ''Pennine Alps Central'', London: Alpine Club, 1975

External links

The Zinalrothorn on SummitPost

The Zinalrothorn on MountWiki

The Zinalrothorn on Hikr
{{Authority control Alpine four-thousanders Mountains of the Alps Mountains of Valais Pennine Alps Mountains of Switzerland Four-thousanders of Switzerland