Canton of Valais in the context of "Ticino (river)"

⭐ In the context of the Ticino River, the Canton of Valais is considered…

Ad spacer

⭐ Core Definition: Canton of Valais

Valais (UK: /ˈvæl/ VAL-ay, US: /væˈl/ val-AY; French: [valɛ] ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion.

Valais is situated in the southwestern part of the country. It borders the cantons of Vaud and Bern to the north, the cantons of Uri and Ticino to the east, as well as Italy to the south and France to the west. It is one of the three large southern Alpine cantons, along with Ticino and Grisons. It is a bilingual canton, French and German being its two official languages. Traditionally, the canton is divided into Lower, Central, and Upper Valais, the latter region constituting the German-speaking minority.

↓ Menu

>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<

👉 Canton of Valais in the context of Ticino (river)

The river Ticino (/tɪˈn/ tih-CHEE-noh, Italian: [tiˈtʃiːno]; Lombard: Tesin; French and German: Tessin; Latin: Ticīnus) is the most important perennial left-bank tributary of the Po. It has given its name to the Swiss canton through which its upper portion flows.

It is one of the four major rivers taking their source in the Gotthard region, along with the Rhône, Reuss and Rhine.The river rises in the Val Bedretto in Switzerland at the frontier between the cantons of Valais and Ticino right below the Nufenen Pass, is fed by the glaciers of the Alps and later flows through Lake Maggiore, which traverses the border to Italy. The Ticino joins the Po a few kilometres downstream (along the Ticino) from Pavia. It is about 248 kilometres (154 mi) long. The stretch of river between Lake Maggiore and the confluence in the Po is included in the Parco naturale lombardo della Valle del Ticino, a Nature reserve included by UNESCO in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

↓ Explore More Topics
In this Dossier

Canton of Valais in the context of Rhône Glacier

The Rhône Glacier (German: Rhonegletscher, Walliser German: Rottengletscher, French: glacier du Rhône, Italian: ghiacciaio del Rodano) is a glacier in the Swiss Alps and the source of the river Rhône and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the Swiss canton of Valais. While the glacier is accessible via the Furka Pass road, it can only be visited between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox (roughly 120 days a year).

↑ Return to Menu

Canton of Valais in the context of Matterhorn

The 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 Pennine Alps, whose summit is 4,478 metres (14,692 ft) above sea level, making it one of the highest summits in the Alps and Europe. Sometimes referred to as the "Mountain of Mountains" (German: Berg der Berge), it has become an indelible emblem of the Alps and is claimed to be the most photographed mountain in the world. The Matterhorn has four faces, each roughly oriented toward one of the four cardinal points. Three of these (north, east, and west) are on the Swiss side of the border and watershed, while the south face lies on the Italian side. These four steep faces, rising above the surrounding glaciers, are separated by the Hörnli, Furggen, Zmutt, and Leone (Lion) ridges. The mountain overlooks the Swiss town of Zermatt, in the canton of Valais, to the northeast, and the Italian town of Breuil-Cervinia in the Aosta Valley to the south. Just east of the Matterhorn is Theodul Pass, the main passage between the two valleys on its north and south sides, which has been a trade route since the Roman era.

The Matterhorn was studied by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure in the late 18th century; this was followed by other renowned naturalists and artists, such as John Ruskin, in the 19th century. It remained unclimbed after most of the other great Alpine peaks had been attained and became the subject of an international competition for the summit. The first ascent of the Matterhorn was in 1865 from Zermatt by a party led by Edward Whymper, but during the descent, a sudden fall claimed the lives of four of the seven climbers. This disaster, later portrayed in several films, marked the end of the golden age of alpinism. The north face was not climbed until 1931 and is among the three biggest north faces of the Alps, known as "The Trilogy". The west face, the highest of the Matterhorn's four faces, was completely climbed only in 1962. It is estimated that over 500 alpinists have died on the Matterhorn, making it one of the deadliest peaks in the world.

↑ Return to Menu

Canton of Valais in the context of Dufourspitze

The Dufourspitze is the highest peak of Monte Rosa, an ice-covered mountain massif in the Alps. Dufourspitze is the highest mountain of both Switzerland and the Pennine Alps and is also the second-highest mountain of the Alps and Western Europe, after Mont Blanc. It is located between Switzerland (Canton of Valais) and Italy (Piedmont and Aosta Valley). The peak itself is located wholly in Switzerland.

Following a long series of attempts beginning in the early nineteenth century, Monte Rosa's summit, then still called Höchste Spitze (English: Highest Peak), was first reached on 1 August, the Swiss National celebration day, in 1855 from Zermatt by a party of eight climbers led by three guides: Matthäus and Johannes Zumtaugwald, Ulrich Lauener, Christopher and James Smyth, Charles Hudson, John Birkbeck and Edward Stephenson.

↑ Return to Menu

Canton of Valais in the context of Saane

The Sarine (French: [saʁin]; Arpitan: Sarena [ʃaʁˈnɑ] ) or Saane (German: [ˈzaːnə]) is a major river of Switzerland. It is 128 km (80 mi) long and has a drainage area of 1,892 km (731 sq mi).It is a tributary of the Aare.

The Sarine rises in the Bernese Alps, near Sanetschhorn, in the Canton of Valais. It forms the Lac de Sénin (French; German: Sanetschsee) reservoir at 2034 m, and then enters the Canton of Bern, traversing the Sanetsch falls between 1900 and 1400 m. It then forms the westernmost valley of the Bernese Oberland, flowing past Gsteig, Gstaad and Saanen in the Obersimmental-Saanen district. Downstream of Saanen, at 982 m, it enters the Canton of Vaud, passing Rougemont, Château-d'Œx and Rossinière, forming the Lac du Vernex at 859 m. At 833, it traverses the Creux de l'Enfer and enters the Canton of Fribourg, forming Lac de Montbovon at 777 m.From this point, it more or less follows the linguistic boundary between French- and German-speaking Switzerland across the bilingual canton of Fribourg (and is often identified as the geographic representation of the Röstigraben division of Switzerland). Passing Villars-sous-Mont, Enney, Gruyères and Broc, it reaches Lac de la Gruyère at 677 m. It then continues in serpentines towards Fribourg itself; the historical city was built in 1157 on a peninsula of the Sarine, protected on three sides by steep cliffs. Downstream of Fribourg, it widens into the Schiffenensee reservoir at 532 m (built 1963), and is then taken to Laupen in a channel, where it is joined by the Sense. Flowing north for another 6 km, it finally joins the Aar just downstream of Wohlensee, at 461 m, some 15 km (9.3 mi) west of Bern.

↑ Return to Menu

Canton of Valais in the context of List of highest mountains of Switzerland

This is a list of the highest mountains of Switzerland. This list only includes summits above 3,600 metres (11,811 ft) with a topographic prominence of at least 30 metres. Note that this list includes many secondary summits that are typically not considered mountains (in the strict sense of the term) but that are mainly of climbing interest. For a list of major summits only, without elevation cut-off, see List of mountains of Switzerland.

The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation defines a summit in the Alps as independent, if the connecting ridge between it and a higher summit drops at least 30 m (a prominence/drop of 30 m, with the lowest point referred to as the "key col"). There are over 350 such summits exceeding 3,600 m in Switzerland, all located in the High Alps, in five cantons: Valais, Bern, Graubünden, Uri, and Glarus. All mountain heights and prominences on the list are from the largest-scale maps available.

↑ Return to Menu

Canton of Valais in the context of 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 12.4 km (7.7 mi) long (2014) and 1 to 1.5 km (0.62 to 0.93 mi) wide. The entire glacial area of the glacier related to Gorner Glacier is 53 km (20 sq mi) (2007), which makes it the second largest glacial system in the Alps after the Aletsch Glacier system; however, in length it ranks third behind the Aletsch and Fiescher Glaciers.

↑ Return to Menu

Canton of Valais in the context of Furka Oberalp Railway

The Furka Oberalp Railway (German: Furka Oberalp Bahn) is a narrow gauge mountain railway in Switzerland with a gauge of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 in). It runs in the Graubünden, Uri and Canton of Valais. Since January 1, 2003, it is part of the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn when it merged with the BVZ Zermatt-Bahn.

The line begins in Disentis in the canton of Graubünden, where there is a connection to the Rhätische Bahn (RhB). It then runs over the Oberalp Pass to Andermatt in the canton of Uri. Through the Furka Base Tunnel it reaches the Goms District area and Brig in the canton of Valais. In Brig, it connects to the BVZ Zermattbahn since 1930.

↑ Return to Menu

Canton of Valais in the context of Pizzo Gallina

Pizzo Gallina is a 3,061-metre-high (10,043 ft) mountain in the Lepontine Alps of Switzerland, overlooking the Nufenen Pass.

Administratively, the summit is located on the border between the municipality of Obergoms, to the north-west and in the canton of Valais, and the municipality of Bedretto, to the south-east and in the canton of Ticino.

↑ Return to Menu