The peak · CH · Pennine Alps

Dom

4,545 m

Named after Canon (Domherr) Joseph Anton Berchtold of Sion, who in the 1830s and 1840s carried out the first triangulation survey of the Mischabel chain and identified this peak as the highest entirely within Switzerland. Dom is the Latin/German form of his ecclesiastical title.

Card
Coordinates46.0939° N · 7.8589° E
UIAA rank№ 07 / 82
CountriesSwitzerland
Normal gradePD · peu difficile
First ascent1858 · J. Llewelyn Davies with Johann Zumtaugwald, Johann Kronig & Hieronymus Brantschen
Typical seasonJuly to September
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Photo of Dom
Photo: Zacharie Grossen · CC BY-SA 3.0

Highest peak entirely within Switzerland.

History

The highest peak entirely within Switzerland, climbed on 11 September 1858 by the Anglican clergyman John Llewelyn Davies — better known as a London social reformer than a mountaineer — with three local guides from Randa. The voie normale from the Domhütte up the Festigrat is still the line of first ascent, and the Dom remains one of the most popular high training peaks for parties working up to bigger goals.

Location

Summit · huts that serve as bases for routes on this peak

Major routes
North flank via Festijoch (Normal route)
Vertical / summit day3,100 m gain · 6h
Notorious for having the greatest single-trip vertical gain of any Alps 4000er — 3100 m from Randa to the summit, none of it mechanised. From the Domhütte the route climbs to the Festijoch (3720 m), descends briefly onto the Hohberg glacier, then ascends the broad N flank to a corniced summit ridge.
Sections
Randa (1407 m)Domhütte (2940 m)+1,533 m4h
DomhütteFestijoch (3720 m)+780 m2h 30m
FestijochSummit (4545 m)+825 m4h
Huts on this route
Festigrat (NW ridge)
AD · assez difficileTopo ↗
Vertical / summit day1,600 m gain · 6h
More technical alternative to the normal route: a rocky ridge (passages of III+) directly from the Festijoch to the summit, avoiding the long N flank slopes. Friable gneiss in places and exposed; sometimes done in descent.
Huts on this route
Featured in tours
Dom–Täschhorn Traverse2 daysD
Nearby huts
DomhütteSAC · mid-March to mid-September2,940 m