MOUNTAIN BERSERKER
The Monte Rosa massif.
The Alps are a vast system of mountain ranges that span across 8 countries in Central and Southern Europe. There is a particular set of summits on the highest mountains of the Alps. Back in 1994 the UIAA (Union Internationale des Associations d’Alpinisme) in collaboration with CAI (Club Alpino Italiano) published a list of 82 peaks higher than 4000 meters elevation. The peaks were chosen taking into account topographic, morphological and mountaineering criteria in the context of development of international standards for mountaineering.
All 82 4000ers of the Alps.
All these summits also known as ''4000ers'' are located in 6 mountain ranges in Switzerland, France and Italy; the Pennine Alps, the Mont Blanc massif, the Bernese Alps, the Gran Paradiso massif, the Bernina massif and the Ecrins massif. Some of them are stand-alone mountains while others feature many peaks connected by ridges.
IPennine Alps
The Pennine Alps is a mountain range shared between Italy and Switzerland, with most 4000ers on the Swiss side. There are 41 4000ers in this range with the vast majority of them surrounding the well-known mountaineering and ski resort Zermatt. The Pennine Alps are divided in several sub-ranges including the Monte Rosa massif, the Mischabel group (Dom, 4545m), the Weisshorn group (Weisshorn, 4506m) and the Grand Combin (Combin de Grafeneire, 4314m).
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The famous Matterhorn (4478m) and the second highest mountain in the Alps, Dufourspitze (4634m) of the Monte Rosa massif both belong to this range. Mountains like Breithorn (4164m) and Alallinhorn (4027m) are some of the best choices for beginners as their ''normal route'' is a very straightforward glacier walk. Many other mountains like Dent Blanche (4357m) and Weisshorn offer great ridge climbing routes.
View of Dufourspitze from Zumsteinspitze.
The 41 4000ers of the Pennine Alps.
Mont Blanc massif
Mont Blanc (4809m) is the highest peak in the Alps and Western Europe but it is not alone. It forms the Mont Blanc massif that includes 28 4000ers in total and is located at the tri-point between France, Italy and Switzerland. Towering above the French town of Chamonix, the highest peak of Mont Blanc is one of the most popular in the Alps and during the summer a lot of people climb the Gouter and the Trois Monts routes which are the easiest ones.
Mont Blanc seen from the Trois Monts route.
On the southeast side of Mont Blanc, near the small Italian town of Courmayer, one can climb the two longest ridges in the entire Alps. The Peuterey and Brouillard ridges start from Val Veny valley and connect a series of 4000ers to the summit of Mont Blanc. Other important mountains that belong to this range are the Grandes Jorasses (4208m) with its impressive north face and sharp ridge and the steep Aiguille Verte (4122m).
The 28 4000ers of the Mont Blanc massif.
Bernese Alps
The Bernese Alps are located entirely within Switzerland, south of Bern and is the northernmost range over 4000m elevation. Among the 9 4000ers of this range the highest is the impressive Finsteraarhorn (4274m) which is hidden by the famous Jungfrau (4158m), Mönch (4107m) and Eiger (3970m) trilogy.
Finsteraarhorn
In the Bernese Alps lies one of the technically hardest and most remote independent mountains in the Alps, the Schreckhorn (4078m) which when climbed in combination with Lauteraarhorn (4042m) offers a beautiful traverse. The remoteness of these mountains and the length of the approach trails leading to mountain huts give a himalayan feel.
The 9 4000ers of the Bernese Alps.
Other ranges
The other three mountain ranges are far away from each other and from the other ranges and in total only four 4000ers are found there. Northwest of Turin, Gran Paradiso (4061m) which lies in the Gran Paradiso National Park is the highest mountain located entirely within Italy and the only 4000er summit in its range. In France, west of Grenoble near the border with Italy lies the Écrins National Park with the Écrins massif in its core which includes many peaks but only two 4000ers; Barre des Ecrins (4101m) and Dôme de Neige des Ecrins (4015m). Similarly to Gran Paradiso, Piz Bernina (4049m) is the only 4000er in the Bernina massif in Switzerland and at the same time the highest mountain in the Eastern Alps
Gran Paradiso
Climbing the 4000ers
Climbing the 4000ers is a very popular objective among mountaineers as those mountains have routes of varying technical difficulty. The alpine grades of the easiest routes to reach all the 4000ers range from F to D+ which means that the minimum difficulties one has to overcome range from simple glacier travel on the easiest summits to V grade rock climbing, snow/ice and mixed climbing on the harder ones.
All 82 Alpine 4000ers grouped by technical difficulty. F: facile (easy), PD: peu difficile (slightly difficult), AD: assez difficile (fairly difficult), D: difficile (difficult).
A typical 4000er ascent involves starting hiking from the base of the valley, usually from a village between 1000-1600m elevation to reach a mountain hut near 3000m and spend the night there. Next comes the summit day, when you have to start the ascent in the dark, a few hours before sunrise to ensure that the snow and ice on the glacier will be well frozen as you climb towards the summit and return to the hut before any possible afternoon storms. Usually this is followed by a second night in the mountain hut because the summit day can be long but many mountaineers choose to head down the valley on summit day.
Easy mixed climbing on the final step to the summit of Mont Blanc du Tacul (4248m) by the normal route (PD)