The Lysjoch (or Lisjoch) (, ) is a very high pass at in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

between

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. It is located east of the

Lyskamm Lyskamm (, formerly ''Lyskamm'', literally "crest of the Lys"), also known as Silberbast (literally "silver bast"), is a mountain () in the Pennine Alps lying on the border between Switzerland and Italy. It consists of a five-kilometre-long ridge ...

and west of the Ludwigshöhe, a subsidiary summit of

Monte Rosa Monte Rosa (; ; ; or ; ) is a mountain massif in the eastern part of the Pennine Alps, on the border between Italy (Piedmont and Aosta Valley) and Switzerland (Valais). The highest peak of the massif, amongst several peaks of over , is the D ...

, and makes up the watershed between the

Gorner Glacier The Gorner Glacier () 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 related to Gorner Glacier ...

and the Lys Glacier. Just west of the pass is the

Entdeckungsfels The Entdeckungsfels (, ) is a minor summit located in Switzerland, close to the Italian border. It is west of the Lysjoch, between Liskamm and Ludwigshöhe. Because of its small prominence, it was included in the enlarged list of alpine four-t ...

, a rock emerging from the ice. The pass connects the valleys of

Zermatt Zermatt (, ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Visp (district), Visp in the German language, German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is cl ...

on the north side to the valley of Gressoney on the south side. The Lysjoch is the lowest point between Lyskamm and the slightly higher Monte Rosa, two of the highest independent mountains of the

Pennine Alps The Pennine Alps (, , , ), sometimes referred to as the Valais Alps (which are just the Northern Swiss part of the Pennine Alps), are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps. They are located in Italy (the Aosta Valley and Piedmont) an ...

, constituting the highest key col of any of the 300 metre-prominent mountains in the Alps. It is therefore the highest pass in the Alps considering only at least 300 metre-deep

saddles A saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to Mammal#Anatomy, an animal's back by a girth (tack), girth. The most common type is List of equestrian sports, equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created ...

References

Swisstopo Swisstopo is the official name for the Swiss Federal Office of Topography, Switzerland's national mapping agency. The current name was made official in 2002. It had been used as the domain name for the homepage of the instituteswisstopo.admi ...

map Pennine Alps Mountain passes of Italy Mountain passes of Switzerland Italy–Switzerland border crossings {{Aosta-geo-stub