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From the path of the Haut Tour du Lac (the Chemin 2500), practically the whole of the Val de Moiry can be seen in a single glance (Walk 79)

Around 15 per cent of the canton is covered by glaciers, for on either side of the Rhône stand the largest snow ranges of the Alps: the Bernese Alps to the north and Pennine Alps to the south. Both are great spawning grounds for glaciers, but the largest of all these icefields is the 22km long Grosser Aletschgletscher which, fed by other glaciers, curves like a vast arctic highway from Oberland giants such as the Jungfrau, Mönch and Fiescherhorn before coming to a halt near the Aletschwald, some 1200m above Brig. At the Konkordiaplatz the ice is said to be around 800m deep and 1800m wide, but in common with other Alpine glaciers the Grosser Aletschgletscher is in retreat, and measurements show that the annual rate of shrinkage is about 20m, while its depth is also being dramatically reduced.

As for the mountains of this scenically spectacular region, the chain of the Pennine Alps which stretches between the Col du Grand St Bernard and the Simplon pass claims a greater number of 4000m peaks than any other Alpine region, and includes the highest mountain standing entirely in Switzerland (the Dom, 4545m), above Saas Fee; the largest massif in Western Europe (Monte Rosa); and the Alps’ second highest summit after Mont Blanc (the Dufourspitze on Monte Rosa at 4634m), which is located a few metres west of the Italian border above Zermatt.