Liskamm (4,527 m a.s.l.)

The Liskamm (often also written as Lyskamm) is located to the west of the Monte Rosa group. The East Summit (4,527 m above sea level) is the highest point of the ridge, which is several kilometres long and crowns the almost 1,000 m high ice-covered North-east face. The ascents over the ridges are long and dangerous, as the ridge has a tendency to form cornices, even though the climbs are not particularly difficult from a technical viewpoint. 

Origin of the name 
Up to the 40’s of the last century, the Liskamm still bore names such as Monte Rosa, Monte Rosa summit, small Monte Rosa and Rosenhorn. Another name that the mountain still carries today is “Silberbast”. The word “Bast” refers to the wooden pack-saddle that pack-mules carried when transporting goods. This saddle has raised parts at the front and back, rather like the Liskamm with its two summits. This name dates back to the fantasy of Pastor Berchtold and was readily adopted by the Zermatt guides. Nevertheless, the name “Liskamm” proposed by the Freiherrn (Baron) Ludwig von Welden became established. The Lys is a 40 km long river that rises from the Italian side of the glacial arms of the Liskamm. 

History / legend 
The man-eater
Due to the lack of knowledge about the danger of cornices, many tragedies occurred on the Liskamm in the 19th century. The over-large rope groups walked over the deposited snow on crests and the edges of the terrain, which then collapsed under the weight of the rope group. But the superstition of the local people attributed the frequent accidents to the dark forces of the Liskamm. In one incident, for example, a single cornice fracture plunged three brothers from the well-known Knubel mountain guide family from St. Niklaus into the deep. 

Film star 
Arnold Franck, the German director and pioneer of mountain films, shot his first mountain film "Im Kampf mit dem Berge (The fight with the mountains)" on the Liskamm in 1921, with Hannes Schneider and Ilse Rohde as the leading actors. Sepp Allgeier, Franck’s first cameraman, , who, among other films, also shot „Der Kampf ums Matterhorn (The battle for the Matterhorn)“ in 1928, was behind the camera.