Overview


Gornergrat from south

Gornergrat from south (from left to right): Railway station of the Gornergrat Bahn, former valley station of the Stockhorn cable car, Kulmhotel Gornergrat with the two astronomical observatories, Belvédère terrace. Photo: © Martin Miller

Gornergrat (English: Gorner Ridge) is a rocky ridge of the Pennine Alps. It is located between the Gorner Glacier in the south and the Findel Glacier in the north and offers a view of 29 four-thousand meter peaks, as Dufourspitze (Monte Rosa massif), Liskamm, Matterhorn, Dom and Weisshorn. Gornergrat is about 3 km in the south-east of Zermatt, in the Swiss canton of Valais. It can be reached from Zermatt by the Gornergrat cog railway finished in 1898, which climbs almost 1’500 m through Riffelalp and Riffelberg. Between the Gornergrat railway station (3’090 m above sea level (asl)) and the summit is the Kulmhotel Gornergrat (3’120 m asl). The hotel hosts the two observatories Gornergrat North and Gornergrat South. The project “Stellarium Gornergrat” is hosted in the Gornergrat South Observatory.

 

Kulmhotel Gornergrat

Kulmhotel Gornergrat with the two observatories. Left: North tower. Right: South tower (Stellarium Gornergrat). Photo: © HFSJG

 

Site characteristics of the Gornergrat Station:

  • Latitude and longitude of the research station: 7° 47′ 9″ E, 45° 59′ 4″ N
  • Altitude of the research station: 3’135 meters asl