The Pennine Alps (german: Walliser Alpen, french: Alpes valaisannes, it, Alpi Pennine, la,

Alpes Poeninae The Alpes Graiae et Poeninae, later known as Alpes Atrectianae et Poeninae (officially Alpes Atrectianae et Vallis Poenina), were a small Alpine province of the Roman Empire created after the merging of the ''Alpes Poeninae'' (or ''Vallis Poenina' ...

), also known as the Valais Alps, are a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

in the western part of the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

. They are located in Switzerland (

Valais Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the 26 cantons forming the S ...

) and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

(

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and the

Aosta Valley , Valdostan or Valdotainian it, Valdostano (man) it, Valdostana (woman)french: Valdôtain (man)french: Valdôtaine (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = Official languages , population_blank1 = Italian French ...

). The Pennine Alps are amongst the three highest major subranges of the Alps, together with the

Bernese Alps , topo_map= Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo , photo=BerneseAlps.jpg , photo_caption=The Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau , country= Switzerland , subdivision1_type= Cantons , subdivision1= , parent= Western Alps , borders_on= , ...

and the Mont Blanc massif.

Geography

The Italian side is drained by the rivers

Dora Baltea Dora Baltea () or Doire Baltée () is a river in northwestern Italy. It is a left-hand tributary of the Po and is about long. Name The river's Latin name was ''Duria maior'', ''Duria Baltica'' or ''Duria Bautica''. Strabo called it Δουρ� ...

Sesia The Sesia (Latin ''Sesites'' or ''Sessites'') is a river in Piedmont, north-western Italy, tributary to the Po. Geography Its sources are the glaciers of Monte Rosa at the border with Switzerland. It flows through the Alpine valley Valsesia a ...

and

Toce The Toce () is a river in Piedmont, Italy, which stretches the length of the Val d'Ossola from the Swiss border to Lake Maggiore into which it debouches near Fondotoce in the commune of Verbania. The river is long and is formed in the upper V ...

, tributaries of the Po. The Swiss side is drained by the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

. The Great St Bernard Tunnel, under the

Great St Bernard Pass it, Colle del Gran San Bernardogerman: Grosser Sankt Bernhard , photo = Great St Bernard Pass.jpg , photo_caption = View of the pass and hospice from Great St Bernard Lake with Mont Vélan in background , elevation_m = 2469 , elevation_ref = ...

, leads from Martigny, Switzerland to

Aosta Aosta (, , ; french: Aoste , formerly ; frp, Aoûta , ''Veulla'' or ''Ouhta'' ; lat, Augusta Praetoria Salassorum; wae, Augschtal; pms, Osta) is the principal city of Aosta Valley, a bilingual region in the Italian Alps, north-northwest of ...

Morphology

The main chain ( watershed between the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

and the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

) runs from west to east on the border between

(south) and Switzerland (north). From Mont Vélan, the first high summit east of St Bernard Pass, the chain rarely goes below 3000 metres and contains many four-thousanders such as

Matterhorn The (, ; it, Cervino, ; french: Cervin, ; rm, Matterhorn) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the ...

or Monte Rosa. The valleys are quite similar on both side of the border, being generally oriented perpendicular to the main chain and descending progressively into the

Valley on the north and the

on the south. Unlike many other mountain ranges, the higher peaks are often located outside the main chain and found themselves between the northern valleys ( Grand Combin, Weisshorn, Mischabel, Weissmies).

Peaks

File:2016 1129 KL1556 Monte Rosa Matterhorn.jpg, Aerial view of the Pennine Alps from a plane above Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) File:MonteRosa004.jpg, Monte Rosa File:Matterhornnorth.jpg, Matterhorn (Cervino) The chief peaks of the Pennine Alps are:

Glaciers

Main

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

s: *

Gorner Glacier The Gorner Glacier (german: Gornergletscher) is a valley glacier found on the west side of the Monte Rosa massif close to Zermatt in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It is about long (2014) and wide. The entire glacial area of the glacier rela ...

* Corbassière Glacier *

Findel Glacier The Findel Glacier (German: ''Findelgletscher'') is a valley glacier in the Monte Rosa massif east of Zermatt in the Pennine Alps. It has a length of and covers an area of .Zmutt Glacier * Zinal Glacier * Otemma Glacier * Allalin Glacier * Ferpècle Glacier * Fee Glacier * Mont Miné Glacier * Ried Glacier * Turtmann Glacier *

Moiry Glacier The Moiry Glacier (french: Glacier de Moiry) is a 5 km long glacier (2005) situated in the Pennine Alps in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. In 1973 it had an area of 5.75 km2. See also *List of glaciers in Switzerland *Swiss Alps ...

* Arolla Glacier * Moming Glacier * Cheilon Glacier * Rossbode Glacier

Passes

The chief passes of the Pennine Alps are:

Nature conservation

Some regional nature parks, like the ''Parco Naturale Alta Valsesia'' (6,511 ha -

, IT), the ''Riserva Naturale Mont Mars'' (390 ha -

, IT) and the ''Regional park of Binn valley'' (15,891 ha -

, CH),''Ein regionaler Naturpark'', park site o
www.landschaftspark-binntal.ch
(accessed in April 2012) have been established on both sides of the main water divide.

Maps

* Swiss official cartography (''

Swiss Federal Office of Topography Swisstopo is the official name for the Swiss Federal Office of Topography (in German: ''Bundesamt für Landestopografie''; French: ''Office fédéral de topographie''; Italian: ''Ufficio federale di topografia''; Romansh: ''Uffizi federal da ...

'' - Swisstopo); on-line version:
map.geo.admin.ch
* Italian official cartography (''

Istituto Geografico Militare The ''Istituto Geografico Militare'' (IGM), or Military Geographic Institute, is an Italian public organization, dependent on the Italian Army general staff (''Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito''). It is the national mapping agency for Italy. Overvie ...

'' - IGM); on-line version
www.pcn.minambiente.it

References

{{Authority control Mountain ranges of the Alps Mountain ranges of Piedmont Mountains of Valais Mountains of Aosta Valley Mountains of Switzerland