Gornergrat

Gornergrat
	Gornergrat (in the middle of the rocky ridge above the Gorner Glacier ) from the Kleiner Matterhorn (southwest), in the background the Mischabel group , Alphubel , Allalin , Rimpfisch and Strahlhorn
height	3135 m above sea level M.
location	Canton of Valais , Switzerland
Mountains	Valais Alps
Dominance	0.495 km → Hohtälli
Notch height	40 m
Coordinates	626 835 / 92464 coordinates: 45 ° 59 '0 " N , 7 ° 47' 6" O ; CH1903: six hundred and twenty-six thousand eight hundred thirty-five / 92464
	Summit buildings from the west

The Gornergrat is a mountain ridge at an altitude of 3135 m above sea level. M. It is located around three kilometers east of Zermatt in the Swiss canton of Valais . The Gornergrat is located between the Gorner Glacier and the Findel Glacier and offers a view of more than 20 four-thousand-meter peaks , including Monte Rosa , the Matterhorn and the Liskamm .

The Gornergratbahn runs from Zermatt (1620 m above sea level) via Riffelalp (2222 m above sea level) and Riffelberg (2600 m above sea level) to the Gornergrat, overcoming an altitude difference of almost 1500 meters. At the terminus ( 3,089 m above sea level ) on the southwestern tip of the ridge is the Kulmhotel, which is the highest mountain hotel in Switzerland. The Gornergrat ski area is connected to the Klein Matterhorn ski area with a new gondola lift that leads from Furi to the Riffelberg . From Gornergrat was 1958-2007 Zermatt Stockhorn with an aerial tramway accessible via the Hohtälli led.

history

Tourism began to develop as early as the 1870s. The former Hotel Belvédère was opened in 1896. The Gornergratbahn opened in 1898 and is the first fully electrified rack railway in Switzerland . As a result, the flow of tourists increased rapidly. Zermatt recognized the importance of the Gornergrat as a tourist destination very quickly. That is why they built the Kulmhotel between 1897 and 1907, which is still there today.

In 1904, Bruno Wehrli and his brothers produced what was then the largest landscape photography in the world for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition . This showed a panorama of the Gornergrat and was 20.50 meters long and 2.25 meters high. The pictures were exposed on plates measuring 18 cm × 24 cm and copied onto bromide silver paper. The plates and the bromide silver paper were made by the company "JH Smith & Co." made from Zurich .

Due to various hazards, the Gornergratbahn was initially only able to operate in summer. In 1928, the train traveled to Riffelalp in winter for the first time, which made the first winter sports season possible in Zermatt. Gradually, the whole route was made winter-proof, so that in 1942 it was possible to drive to the end station on the Gornergrat for the first time in winter. Eight years later, the operating frequency was higher in winter than in summer. Due to the constantly growing number of visitors, the railway was also continuously expanded. Today the travel time to the Gornergrat is only 33 minutes.

Research station

Two astronomical observatories of the HFSJG ( high alpine research stations Jungfraujoch and Gornergrat ) were built on the two towers of the mountain hotel in the late 1960s . The Gornergrat North observatory housed a 1.5 meter infrared telescope ( TIRGO ) until 2005 , and the Gornergrat South observatory a 3 meter radio telescope ( KOSMA ) until mid-2010 . Today the Gornergrat South observatory is available to schoolchildren, students, visitors to the Gornergrat and the public through the 'Stellarium Gornergrat' project. The observatory was designed in such a way that observations can be controlled on site or remotely via the Internet. The station enables astronomical observations as well as educational programs. The University of Bern operational from 1998 to 2017 in collaboration with the Solar Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, Nagoya University, one laboratory container to measure solar neutrons , which represented the European corner of a worldwide network of such stations.