The Signalkuppe (in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, pronounced seeg-nall-koo-pay) also known as Punta Gnifetti (in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

) (4,554 m) is a

peak Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-d ...

in 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 ...

on the border 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 a subpeak 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 ...

. The mountain is named after 'the Signal', a prominent

gendarme A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to "men-at-arms" (). In France and som ...

atop the east ridge, named ''Cresta Signal''. The first ascent was made by

Giovanni Gnifetti Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

, a parish priest from

Alagna Valsesia Alagna Valsesia ( Walser German: ''Im Land'', Piedmontese: ''Alagna'', Valsesiano: ''Lagna'') is a ''comune'' and small village high in the Valsesia alpine valley in the province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy, a UNESCO World heritage si ...

, together with J. Farinetti, C. Ferraris, C. Grober, J. and G. Giordiano and their porters on 9 August 1842. The highest hut in Europe, the

Margherita Hut The Margherita Hut (, ) is a mountain hut belonging to the Italian Alpine Club, located on the summit of () of Monte Rosa, a mountain massif of the Alps lying near the border between Italy and Switzerland. At above sea level, it is the highest ...

(Capanna Marguerita, named after Italy's Queen consort

Margherita of Savoy Margherita of Savoy (''Margherita Maria Teresa Giovanna''; 20 November 1851 – 4 January 1926) was List of Italian royal consorts, Queen of Italy by marriage to her first cousin King Umberto I of Italy. She was the daughter of Prince Ferdinand ...

) lies on the summit of the mountain. Work started in 1890, supported by the Italian crown, and Queen Margherita opened it in 1893. The new hut, effectively a high-altitude

Faraday cage A Faraday cage or Faraday shield is an enclosure used to block some electromagnetic fields. A Faraday shield may be formed by a continuous covering of conductive material, or in the case of a Faraday cage, by a mesh of such materials. Faraday cag ...

, is clad in sheet copper to shield against unwanted electrical fields. The Signalkuppe (Punta Gnifetti) is connected to the

Zumsteinspitze The Zumsteinspitze (Punta Zumstein in Italian) (4,563 m) is a peak in the Pennine Alps on the border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a subpeak of Monte Rosa. The summit lies between the Dufourspitze (to which it is joined by the ''Grenzsat ...

(Italian: Punta Zumstein) (German: Zumsteinspitze) by the high-alpine glaciated saddle Colle Gnifetti.

References

* Dumler, Helmut and Willi P. Burkhardt, ''The High Mountains of the Alps'', London: Diadem, 1994 * Collomb, Robin G., (ed.), ''Pennine Alps Central'', London: Alpine Club, 1975

External links

The Signalkuppe on SummitPost

Photographic account of an ascent of the Signal ridge (in Italian)

Margherita hut page (Capanna Margherita, in Italian)

Margherita hut official page from Rifugimonterosa.it (in English)

Other photos of Margherita hut ascent from Alagna (in Italian)
Mountains of the Alps Alpine four-thousanders Mountains of Piedmont Mountains of Valais Pennine Alps Italy–Switzerland border International mountains of Europe Monte Rosa Mountains of Switzerland Four-thousanders of Switzerland {{Vercelli-geo-stub

See also

References

External links