Pennine Alps Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Pennine Alps
French: Alpes Pennines, Alpes valaisannes, German: Walliser Alpen, Italian: Alpi Pennine, Latin: Alpes Poeninae
View of Pennine Alps from Riederalp
Highest point
Peak	Dufourspitze
Elevation	4,634 m (15,203 ft)
Geography
Pennine Alps (red)
Countries	Switzerland and Italy
Canton/Regions	Valais, Piedmont and Aosta Valley
Range coordinates	46°05′N 7°50′E / 46.083°N 7.833°E / 46.083; 7.833
Parent range	Alps
Borders on	Graian Alps, Lepontine Alps, Bernese Alps and Po plain

The Pennine Alps are a huge mountain range in the western part of the Alps. They are also called the Valais Alps. You can find them in Switzerland (in a region called Valais) and Italy (in Piedmont and the Aosta Valley). These mountains are super tall and beautiful!

Exploring the Pennine Alps
- Rivers and Valleys
- The Great St Bernard Tunnel
Amazing Mountains and Peaks
- Highest Peaks
Glaciers and Ice
Mountain Passes
Protecting Nature
See also

Exploring the Pennine Alps

The Pennine Alps are known for their amazing height. They include some of the highest mountains in Europe. Many famous peaks are here, like the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa.

Rivers and Valleys

On the Italian side, rivers like the Dora Baltea, Sesia, and Toce flow into the big Po River. On the Swiss side, the Rhône River drains the mountains.

The valleys in the Pennine Alps are quite similar on both sides. They usually go straight down from the main mountain chain. They lead to the Rhône Valley in the north and the Aosta Valley in the south.

The Great St Bernard Tunnel

There's a special tunnel called the Great St Bernard Tunnel. It goes under the Great St Bernard Pass. This tunnel connects Martigny, Switzerland in Switzerland to Aosta in Italy. It's a key route through the mountains!

Amazing Mountains and Peaks

The main part of the Pennine Alps forms a border between Italy (to the south) and Switzerland (to the north). This line of mountains is also the watershed. This means it separates rivers that flow to the Mediterranean Sea from those that flow to the Adriatic Sea.

From Mont Vélan, one of the first tall peaks, the mountains rarely drop below 3,000 meters (about 9,800 feet). Many peaks here are "four-thousanders." This means they are over 4,000 meters (about 13,100 feet) tall! The Matterhorn and Monte Rosa are two famous examples. What's cool is that some of the very highest peaks are not even on the main border. They are found deeper inside, like Grand Combin, Weisshorn, and Weissmies.

Aerial view of the Pennine Alps from a plane above Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco)
Monte Rosa
Matterhorn (Cervino)

Highest Peaks

Here are some of the chief peaks in the Pennine Alps:

Name	Height
Dufourspitze	4,634 m (15,203 ft)
Dunantspitze	4,632 m (15,197 ft)
Grenzgipfel	4,618 m (15,151 ft)
Nordend	4,609 m (15,121 ft)
Zumsteinspitze	4,563 m (14,970 ft)
Signalkuppe	4,554 m (14,941 ft)
Dom	4,545 m (14,911 ft)
Liskamm	4,538 m (14,888 ft)
Weisshorn	4,506 m (14,783 ft)
Täschhorn	4,491 m (14,734 ft)
Matterhorn	4,478 m (14,692 ft)
Parrotspitze	4,432 m (14,541 ft)
Dent Blanche	4,364 m (14,318 ft)
Nadelhorn	4,327 m (14,196 ft)
Grand Combin	4,314 m (14,154 ft)
Lenzspitze	4,294 m (14,088 ft)
Stecknadelhorn	4,241 m (13,914 ft)
Castor	4,230 m (13,878 ft)
Zinalrothorn	4,223 m (13,855 ft)
Hohberghorn	4,219 m (13,842 ft)
Alphubel	4,206 m (13,799 ft)
Rimpfischhorn	4,199 m (13,776 ft)

Strahlhorn

| 4,190 m (13,747 ft) |- | Dent d'Hérens | 4,171 m (13,684 ft) |- | Breithorn | 4,164 m (13,661 ft) |- | Bishorn | 4,153 m (13,625 ft) |- | Breithornzwillinge | 4,139 m (13,579 ft) |- | Pollux | 4,092 m (13,425 ft) |- | Ober Gabelhorn | 4,073 m (13,363 ft) |- | Dürrenhorn | 4,035 m (13,238 ft) |- | Allalinhorn | 4,027 m (13,212 ft) |- | Weissmies | 4,031 m (13,225 ft) |- | Lagginhorn | 4,010 m (13,156 ft) |}

Glaciers and Ice

The Pennine Alps are home to many large glaciers. These are like huge, slow-moving rivers of ice. They are a big part of the mountain landscape.

Some of the main glaciers include:

Gorner Glacier
Corbassière Glacier
Findel Glacier
Zmutt Glacier
Zinal Glacier
Otemma Glacier
Allalin Glacier
Fee Glacier

Weissmies

Grand Combin

Mountain Passes

Great St Bernard pass

Mountain passes are lower points in a mountain range that allow people to travel from one side to another. They are like natural doorways through the mountains. Here are some of the important passes in the Pennine Alps:

Mountain pass	location	type	elevation
Sesiajoch	Zermatt to Alagna	snow	4,424	14,515
Domjoch	Randa to Saas-Fee	snow	4,286	14,062
Lisjoch	Zermatt to Gressoney-La-Trinité	snow	4,277	14,033
Mischabeljoch	Zermatt to Saas-Fee	snow	3,856	12,651
Alphubel Pass	Zermatt to Saas-Fee	snow	3,802	12,474
Adler Pass	Zermatt to Saas-Fee	snow	3,798	12,461
Moming Pass	Zermatt to Zinal	snow	3,745	12,287
Schwarztor	Zermatt to Ayas	snow	3,741	12,274
Ried Pass	Sankt-Niklaus to Saas-Fee	snow	3,597	11,800
Neues Weisstor	Zermatt to Macugnaga	snow	3,580	11,746
Allalin Pass	Zermatt to Saas-Fee	snow	3,570	11,713
Col de Valpelline	Zermatt to Aosta	snow	3,562	11,687
Theodulpass	Zermatt to Valtournenche	snow	3,322	10,899
Col de Collon	Arolla to Aosta	snow	3,130	10,270
Cimes Blanches	Valtournenche to Ayas	bridle path	2,980	9,777
Monte Moro	Saas-Fee to Macugnaga	bridle path	2,862	9,390
Great St Bernard	Martigny to Aosta	road	2,472	8,111
Simplon Pass	Brig to Domodossola	road	2,009	6,592

Protecting Nature

To keep the Pennine Alps beautiful, several nature parks have been created. These parks help protect the plants and animals that live here. They are found on both the Italian and Swiss sides of the mountains.

Some examples include:

The Parco Naturale Alta Valsesia in Italy.
The Riserva Naturale Mont Mars also in Italy.
The Regional park of Binn valley in Switzerland.

These parks are important for keeping the mountain environment healthy for everyone to enjoy!

Pennine Alps facts for kids

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