Strahlhorn
German Strahl plus Horn — in Swiss-German mountaineering vocabulary Strahl means 'crystal' rather than literal 'ray', and Strahler is the traditional word for a crystal-hunter; the peak is named for the rock-crystals once prospected on its flanks.
Glaciated dome forming the southern bastion of the Mischabel group, often combined with ski-mountaineering itineraries. The normal route climbs from the Britanniahütte across the Allalin Glacier and over the Adlerpass.
Climbed on 15 August 1854 by the English brothers Christopher and James Smyth — the same pair who twelve months later would lead the first ascent of the Dufourspitze on Monte Rosa. The Strahlhorn ('radiant peak') is approached from the Britanniahütte across the broad Adlerpass glacier, a long but technically easy snow walk that is one of the most popular high-altitude ski mountaineering objectives of the Saas valley.
Summit · huts that serve as bases for routes on this peak
- Britannia Hütte3,030 m