Bivouac · 3960 m
Bivacco Città di Gallarate
At about 3,960 metres on the Signal ridge of Monte Rosa, the Città di Gallarate bivouac is one of the highest shelters in the Alps, a support point for the Punta Gnifetti and the Margherita hut. An unmanned bivouac in a high glacial environment: access only for equipped, acclimatised mountaineers.
Altitude
3960 m
Valley
Lys Valley
Beds
9
Where it is
45.9520, 7.8773 · 3960 m
What to bring
Everything you need to be self-sufficient: sleeping bag and mat (often absent or minimal), food and water or a small stove, layered and windproof clothing, a headlamp, a first-aid kit. No money is needed — the bivouac is free. Carry out all your waste.
What to do there
If you stay overnight, enjoy the silence and the starry sky far from any light. The reward for climbing this high is dawn from altitude: wake early, while the air is still clear, and watch it set the ridges alight. Which summits and passes you can reach depends on the area — check the routes on the trail pages above.
What is a bivouac
A bivouac is a small unmanned shelter, always open and free, placed at high altitude where a staffed hut could not exist. It was conceived to break up long traverses, to wait for first light before a climb, or as an emergency shelter in bad weather. There is no keeper and no services: you find what those before you have left. Hence the golden rule — leave it as clean and tidy as you would wish to find it.
Nearby peaks
Community gallery
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Source: OpenStreetMap contributors