whether the recent fast melting of the glaciers is due to the effects of modern civilisation may be debated, but there is no doubt that the current warming is very rapid.
Ancient passes
Many of the trails used by the Tour of Monte Rosa have been used for centuries for all sorts of different purposes. In the Middle Ages the Alpine climate was warmer by several degrees than it is today, and before motorised transport it was often easier and safer to go over the high mountain passes than to descend to the main valleys such as the Rhône and the Aosta. Frequently the mountain valleys were rendered impassable by deep gorges, or were prone to rockfall or landslides. While the high passes carried their own risks – bad weather, cold, exhaustion, attack from marauders – they were usually more direct and less tortuous.
There were abundant reasons for wanting to travel from one valley to the next.
Trade: in times past people bartered goods rather than dealing in money. Goods that were needed in the Alps included salt and spices, so the mountain people would take their own goods to trade. The wines from the Aosta Valley were sent over to the Valais and Tarentaise by the so-called Route des Vins (which went from Chambave to the Rhône Valley, probably across the Theodul and Collon passes).
The farmers would take their cattle over into neighbouring valleys to graze as part of the transhumance method of farming.
People travelled surprisingly long distances for work; for example much of the Alpine architecture in Switzerland is based on the work of Italian builders from the Valsesia region, near Alagna.
Sometimes people needed to migrate because they had too many enemies in their native valley, or conditions had made survival there untenable.
The Monte Moro Pass (L to R): the lift station, the Oberto Maroli hut and the golden Madonna (Stage 6)
History tantalises us with fascinating stories about these travels – fortunes lost, treasures found, lives risked. Now as we trek through the mountains, generally comfortable in our high-tech gear and with well-filled stomachs, it’s interesting to try to imagine the trepidation that travellers hundreds of years ago would have felt before setting out on these highly risky ventures. The vagaries of Alpine weather meant that any excursion into the hills brought with it a risk of bad weather, not to mention illness or even attack. The frequent presence of chapels and crosses en route attests to the need to put their life in God’s hands. Hence on several cols in the Alps – such as the Grand St Bernard, Petit St Bernard and Simplon – we find hospices, erected by religious people to provide safe haven for those poor souls in need of food, shelter or security while trying to get to the next valley.
Theodulpass (3301m)
This pass is one of the most famous in the western Alps and a major crossing point on the Tour of Monte Rosa trek. In Roman times it was called Silvius, and is documented as early as AD3. The name Theodulpass dates from the late 17th century. It was named after St Theodul, a Christian missionary and the first Bishop of Valais towards the end of the fourth century. He made numerous visits to Italy, probably via this pass which now bears his name.
In 1895 54 coins dating from 2BC to AD4 were found just below the col, and these are now in an archaeological museum in Zermatt. It must certainly have been hotter and drier in those days, since these and other artefacts attest to the passage of the col on foot and on horseback. It would seem there was a small settlement on the col providing provisions and guided passage. From the 5th century onwards winters became more rigorous and the glaciers began to grow. Commercial caravans abandoned the route, but from the 9th century the glaciers regressed and there was a return of activity across the pass, with several monastic orders settling on both sides of the massif. In 1792 Horace Benedict de Saussure (famed as the main instigator of the first ascent of Mont Blanc) came this way and spent some time at the col measuring the exact altitude of the Matterhorn. Whilst there he apparently found the remains of an old fort built in 1688 by the Comte de Savoie.
The Little Ice Age from the 16th century onwards led to colder conditions and the glaciers grew accordingly. Cols such as the Theodulpass became more and more difficult to cross and would-be travellers were regularly victims of accidents while attempting this passage, be it from the cold, avalanches or crevasses. In 1825 a merchant fell into a crevasse with his horse, allegedly taking 10,000 francs with him – an incentive for bounty hunters for years to come. In the 20th century conditions on this pass became much easier – in 1910 a herd of 34 cows successfully made the passage – but, nevertheless, care must be taken here.
The Walser community
The Italian part of the Tour of Monte Rosa passes through several areas of Walser settlement. The Walsers are descended from Germanic peoples who, a thousand years ago, left their homeland to migrate throughout the Alps. They came from the German-speaking Upper Valais region – in German ‘Wallis’, hence Walliser people, giving the name ‘Walser’. Why they left their homeland is not known – possibly a natural catastrophe, climatic change, plague or a desire to roam – but wherever they settled they preserved their ancient German language, customs and traditions.
Monte Rosa towers over the hamlet of Alpe Bors (Stage 4)
They settled in the higher reaches of the Alps, not just in Italy but also in the Swiss Bernese Oberland and the Chablais region of France. They particularly favoured the southern Alpine valleys, especially those surrounding Monte Rosa. The Walser colonisation was achieved peacefully, as the Italian feudal lords in the Valsesia Valley had little to lose in granting them high-altitude land (generally above 1500m or even higher) which was regarded as inhospitable and therefore not exploited by the locals.
In return for maintaining these Alpine lands the Walsers were allowed freedom. Their communities were not subject to the laws of the region, and in effect they had their own sovereignty. The newcomers did not immediately establish relations with the locals, and initially received supplies of staple commodities such as salt, metal tools, cereals and clothing from the Valais. Later the colonies became practically self-sufficient and the umbilical cord linking them with their old country was broken. Their integration became complete when their self-governing parishes were recognised.
The inhabitants of these isolated colonies had to work hard to survive: they had to clear forest, till the land, create fields and meadows for cultivation and grazing, build houses and, during the summer, produce everything necessary to feed their families and animals during the long winter months. Their ethnic and linguistic isolation and difficulties in communication and transport made them fiercely independent and proudly free. They say that to breathe the air of the Walsers is to breathe the air of freedom.
(L to R) Signalkuppe, Zumsteinspitze and Dufourspitze seen from Nordend
The Walser culture is expressed not only through language and traditions but can also be seen in their traditional architecture and settlement patterns. The Walsers had to survive in rough conditions, so they became experts in farmwork, making tools and cultivating crops at altitude. Their houses were often built of wood and these buildings can be seen today (such as at the hamlet of Otro, above Alagna) and will be strung with tools, their large balconies supporting wooden frames for drying hay. Essential to the Walsers’ diet was rye bread, baked twice a year (in spring and autumn) in the communal oven. During the winter months it was kept on a special wooden rack hung out from the walls, to prevent attack by mice.
Those houses high in the meadows
