Home · Spaghetti Tour

July – mid September · Monte Rosa · UIAGM guided

The Spaghetti Tour,
summit after summit.

Five days across the Monte Rosa massif between Switzerland and Italy, sleeping in Italian huts, collecting four-thousanders on the way and spending one night at 4,554 m in the highest hut in Europe. Up to eleven summits in a week.

Check dates See the program
5 days
Program
11
Four-thousanders, at most
4,563 m
14,970 ft — high point
1–2
Guests per guide

The massif

A week that stays
above 4,000 m

Most four-thousanders cost you a whole day each: up from the valley, summit, back down, start again. Monte Rosa does not work like that. The summits stand close together on one high plateau, the huts sit between them, and once the lift has put you on the glacier on the first morning you do not go back down for five days. That is the whole idea of this traverse, and it is why no other week in the Alps delivers as many 4,000 m summits as this one. It is also why it is harder than any single one of them: the difficulty is not the climbing, it is doing it five days running on thin air and a hut bunk.

The program

Five days,
four huts

We start on the Swiss side at the Klein Matterhorn and finish there, crossing into Italy on the first day and sleeping on that side all week. The summits below are the full list; how many we climb is decided each morning by the conditions and by how the party is moving.

1
Day 1 — Breithorn, 4,164 m, and into Italy
The Klein Matterhorn lift does the first two thousand metres, which is the only time all week the mountain gives you anything for free. We climb the Breithorn to put the first four-thousander in your legs and to let me see you move, then cross the frontier and drop to the Rifugio Val d'Ayas for the night.
2
Day 2 — Pollux and Castor, 4,225 m
The day with the most actual climbing in it: a short rock step on Pollux, then the long snow crest of Castor, which is the most beautiful ridge of the traverse and the one people photograph. Down to the Rifugio Quintino Sella.
3
Day 3 — the Naso del Lyskamm, Balmenhorn, Vincent Pyramid
Across the south side of the Lyskamm, past the bronze Cristo delle Vette on the Balmenhorn, and over the Vincent Pyramid to the Rifugio Gnifetti. Three summits on the way to a hut, which is the day that explains the whole traverse.
4
Day 4 — four summits, and a night at 4,554 m
Schwarzhorn, Ludwigshöhe, Parrotspitze and Signalkuppe, one after the other along the high crest, finishing at Capanna Regina Margherita on the summit of the Signalkuppe — the highest building in Europe. Expect a poor night's sleep; everyone has one up there, and it is still worth it.
5
Day 5 — Zumsteinspitze, 4,563 m, and down
The high point of the week is ten minutes from the hut door, which is a fine way to start a last day. Then the long descent of the Grenzgletscher back into Switzerland and the train down to Zermatt.
—
The eleven summits are a maximum, not a promise
Some of these tops are a twenty-minute detour from the line we are walking anyway; others are not worth the extra hour on a day when the snow has gone soft or someone is going badly. I would rather bring you home having climbed eight of them well than eleven of them badly, and I will tell you which it is each morning.
5 daysDuration
4 nightsItalian huts
F – PDDifficulty
Jul – mid SepSeason
CHF 4,450–5,200guide fee · 5 days

The range depends on whether you are one or two on the rope. On top of it, budget around €330 per person for the four hut nights with half board — and the same again for mine, as is standard in the Alps.

Included. UIAGM guide for the five days, privately · planning of the route and the hut reservations · group equipment and the rope · the daily call on which summits to take.
Not included. The huts themselves, yours and the guide's · the Klein Matterhorn lift and the train from Rotenboden · your personal equipment · accident and mountain rescue insurance · anything not specified above.
Level required. Previous glacier experience, comfortable in crampons on firm snow and easy rock, and fit for five days running above 4,000 m. Nothing here is technically hard. Doing it five days in a row at altitude is. Come acclimatised if you can — a Breithorn or an Allalinhorn in the days before changes this week completely.
Ask about the Spaghetti Tour

Before you book

Common
questions

Why is it called the Spaghetti Tour?
Because you sleep on the Italian side all week and eat accordingly. It is not a marketing name — it is what guides on both sides of the frontier have called it for decades, and the huts live up to it. After five hours on a glacier, dinner at the Quintino Sella is a large part of why people remember this week.
Will I really climb eleven 4,000 m peaks?
Eleven is the maximum, and in a good week with a party moving well it happens. Most weeks it is eight or nine. The honest version is that the traverse is the objective and the summits are what it passes over — if I start optimising for the count rather than for the week, we are both in the wrong place.
What does it really cost?
CHF 4,450 to 5,200 guide fee for the five days, depending on whether you are one or two on the rope. Then around €330 per person for the four hut nights with half board, counted twice because you also cover my nights as is standard in the Alps, plus the Klein Matterhorn lift, the train down from Rotenboden at the end, and €50 to 70 if you need to rent technical gear.
What level do I need?
Previous glacier experience, comfortable walking in crampons on firm snow and over easy rock, and fit enough for five consecutive days above 4,000 m. Graded F to PD, so the moves are not the issue — the altitude and the repetition are. If you have done one or two four-thousanders and enjoyed them, you are the person this week is for.
What is the night at the Margherita hut actually like?
4,554 m, on the summit of the Signalkuppe, and the highest building in Europe. Most people sleep badly, have a headache and eat less than they should — that is normal at that altitude and it passes as soon as you go down. It is also the single thing people talk about for years afterwards, which is why the traverse is built around it rather than around avoiding it.
When is the season?
July to mid September, while the Italian huts are open. Early July often carries more snow on the ridges. Late August and September are usually the most settled, with firmer glaciers and shorter days to work around.
What happens if the weather turns?
Up there you cannot simply sit it out — the huts are at 3,600 to 4,550 m and a bad front means going down. There are escape routes off the Italian side on most days and we use them. Build a spare day into your travel if you can; it is the difference between rescheduling a summit and losing the trip.
Is there a tradition I should know about?
Yes, and it is a good one. Here the trip traditionally ends with the client buying the guide a drink or a meal once you are back down. It is not part of the price and nobody will mention it on the mountain, but after five days on the same rope it is how the week is supposed to finish.

July – mid September

Five days on
Monte Rosa

Tell me your dates and what you have climbed — which four-thousanders, how recently, and whether you will arrive acclimatised. Hut places go months ahead, so the earlier you ask the more the week is yours to shape.

WhatsApp · +41 76 270 13 49 @carlitos_molina_guide molinamountain@gmail.com
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