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 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