20th-21st.July 2019, Allalinhorn 4027m
The Allalinhorn is one of the easiest 4,000-metre peaks in the Alps to climb, and therefore also one of the most popular. It is located on the Mischabel ridge between the Saas and Matter valleys and is part of the Allalin group, along with the Alphubel, Strahlhorn and Rimpfischhorn. From the summit, climbers see almost the entire sweep of the Western Alps.
In 1828, Heinrich Michaelis and a guide crossed the Allalin Pass and thereby opened up the route to the south-west ridge. The first ascent of the Allalinhorn via the same ridge only took place 28 years later. On 28 August 1856, the parish priest Johann Josef Imseng from Saas-Grund and his manservant Franz Josef Andenmatten led the Englishman Edward Levi Ames to the summit. The Bernese high school teacher and historian Heinrich Dübi ascended the summit via the difficult north-east ridge on 27 July 1882 with the guides Alphons and Peter Supersaxo, and then descended via the Hohlaubgrat. This ridge was ascended for the first time five years later, on 12 July 1887, by the Englishmen Harold Ward Topham and C. H. Redall and the guide Aloys Supersaxo.
The normal route is the most ascended route on a 4000 meter peak in the Alps together with the normal route on Breithorn. Since it starts at the Mittel Allalin top station at 3450 meters, climbers only have to deal with an altitude difference of around 570 meters in order to reach the summit. Mittel Allalin is the top station of the Saas Fee ski facilities and therefore easily reached from the valley floor. The normal route is graded F+ but although technically easy, the route is at high altitude and includes glaciated terrrain with crevasses present. Due to its popularity, it is very busy in the summer months being mostly ascended from Mittel Allalin, but also from the Britannia-, Tasch- and Langflue mountain huts.