MONTE ROSA
Monte
Rosa has always represented a point of interest for
its natural beauty, inspiring many great figures including poets, authors,
painters, naturalists and, above all, alpinists.
It is known that in the early 500s, Leonardo da Vinci adventured onto the
slopes of Monboso (Monte Rosa). The
origin of this name comes from the ancient Celtic name, “roëse”, “roiza”,
“rovesa”, meaning glacier.
The first true recorded ascent of Monte
Rosa dates back to 1778; the “Roccia della Scoperta” near the Lys Col, was climbed
by seven alpinists from Gressoney, Valentino
and Joseph Beck, Sebastian Linty, Joseph Zumstein, Nicolas Vincent, François
Castel and Etienne Lisco.
The subsequent climbs on the massif were
also led by alpinists from Gressoney; in 1819 Nicolas and Joseph Vincent claimed the peak which then took their
name (Vincent Pyramid). In the same year, Nicolas
Vincent and Joseph Zumstein reached the 4561-metre peak which is now known
as the Zumstein Spitz. In 1893, the Gressoney guides accompanied Her Majesty
the Queen Margherita of Savoia to the
opening ceremony of the highest observatory hut in Europe, which was named
after her. Later, there were many first ascents completed by the Gressoney
guides. In 1902, there was the first ascent of the south-east face of the Western
Lyskamm by the guides, Franceso Curta,.
Giacomo Davide and Alessandro Lazier. In 1903, the guides, Curtaz and Pellissier, along with Mrs
Grace Filder, opened a new route on the south-east face of Western Lyskamm,
which was then given the name, “via Filder” (the Filder route). In 1907, the
first winter ascent of Dufour took place with the guides Antonio Curtaz and Franz Lazier who accompanied the alpinist Mario Piacenza. Then, in 1911, the first
Italian ascent of the north face of Lyskamm and the first ascent of the
south-west ridge of Castore were completed by the the guide Antonio Welf along with his client, Carlo Fortina.
The Society of
the Gressoney Alpine Guides was founded in 1963.
