Most people, including a good percentage of the tourists that throng
Zermatt, do not realize that the Matterhorn is not the highest peak in the Swiss Alps. That honor belongs to the Dufourspitze, the crowning peak of the Monte Rosa massif, located a few
miles east of the Matterhorn and rising just over 150 m/500 feet higher.
Other confusing myths swirl around the Dufourspitze. It is not the highest point in Italy as well as Switzerland, as is sometimes claimed--indeed, the actual summit lies 160m west of the border, entirely on the Swiss side. This also means that the Dufourspitze is also the highest peak "entirely within" Switzerland, an honor sometimes given to the Dom (14,911'/4545m), high point of the nearby Mischabel range. To be fair, the Dom is certainly much further
inside Switzerland than 525 horizontal feet!
As the second highest summit in the Alps, the Dufourspitze ("Dufour Peak")
is also perhaps the most significant mountain in the world named after a mapmaker--General Dufour, responsible for the high quality in early Swiss maps that is still noticeable today. |
