Gornergrat

Gornergrat
Summit of Gornergrat with observatory
Highest point
Peak	unnamed
Elevation	3,135 m (10,285 ft)
Prominence	50 m (160 ft)
Parent peak	Monte Rosa
Coordinates	45°59′00″N 07°47′05″E
Naming
English translation	Gorner Ridge
Language of name	German
Geography
Gornergrat Location in Switzerland
Location	Valais
Country	Switzerland
Parent range	Pennine Alps
Topo map	Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo

The Gornergrat (Template:Lang-en; 3,135 m (10,285 ft)) is a rocky ridge of the Pennine Alps, overlooking the Gorner Glacier south-east of Zermatt in Switzerland. It can be reached from Zermatt by the Gornergrat rack railway (GGB), the highest open-air railway in Europe. Between the Gornergrat railway station (3,090 m (10,140 ft)) and the summit is the Kulm Hotel (3,120 m (10,240 ft)). In the late 1960s two astronomical observatories were installed in the two towers of the Kulmhotel Gornergrat. The project “Stellarium Gornergrat” is hosted in the Gornergrat South Observatory.

Overview

It is located about three kilometers east of Zermatt in the Swiss canton of Valais. The Gornergrat is located between the Gornergletscher and Findelgletscher and offers a view of more than 20 four-thousand metre peaks, whose highest are Dufourspitze (Monte Rosa massif), Liskamm, Matterhorn, Dom and Weisshorn.

This is the last stop of the Gornergrat train, opened in 1898, which climbs almost 1,500 m (4,900 ft) through Riffelalp and Riffelberg. At the terminus on the south-western tip of the ridge is a hotel. The station forms part of the Zermatt ski area. From 1958 to 2007 there was a cable car from Gornergrat over the Hohtälli (3,275 m (10,745 ft)) to the Stockhorn (3,405 m (11,171 ft)) which, until the construction of the Klein Matterhorn cable car, was the highest mountain station in Zermatt. At the west side of the Gorner Ridge, nearby the Rotenboden railway station is the peak Riffelhorn (2,928 m (9,606 ft)).

Gallery

• 
  Matterhorn (far before), viewed from Gornergrat railway station and, from left to right, Klein Matterhorn, Breithorn, the nowadays disconnected Lower Theodul Glacier, Upper Theodul Glacier (June 2006).
• 
  Gornergrat railway station.
• 
  From Schwarzsee (2,552 m) looking eastwards : first the Riffelhorn, then Gornergrat (with buildings), and the Hohtälli on the very left.
• 
  A view of Gorner Glacier in front, the Monte Rosa massif in the middle, and the major tributary of the Gorner Glacier, the Border Glacier (German: Grenzgletscher) to its right and the impressive Liskamm on the Swiss-Italian border, as viewed from Gornergrat (September 2007).

See also

• Gornergratbahn
• Riffelalptram
• List of mountains of Switzerland accessible by public transport

External links

Media related to Gornergrat at Wikimedia Commons