Dufourspitze

The Dufourspitze, located in the Valais Alps, is, at a height of 4,634 metres above sea level, the highest summit in all of Switzerland and German-speaking Europe. When the mountain was climbed for the first time in 1855, it was still called Gornergrathorn. It was later renamed in honour of the Swiss general Guillaume-Henri Dufour, famous for being the publisher of the first series of maps covering Switzerland and for co-founding the International Committee of the Red Cross. The first time it was climbed also marked the beginning of the “golden age of alpinism”. Mountain climbing became a goal in itself: from this point onwards, people would climb for the challenge of it and the love of the mountains – not to carry out research or to survey the area.