summer in the alps

[tthirloway]

i'm thinking about spending a couple months in the alps this summer. i want to travel light, i.e. not carry too much rock pro. any suggestions of mountains/routes?

thanks.

[iluka]

The Monte Rosa area (accessed from either Zermatt in Switzerland or Alagna in Italy) has a lot of good peaks concentrated in one area that are all largely snow/glacier routes and don't require a lot of rock pro. Besides the easy walk-up to the Capanna Margherita (the highest hut in Europe) you can do the highest peak in Switzerland (Dufourspitze) as well as some other nice objectives such as Lyskam (an amazing ridge run on this one) and Nordend. The two drawbacks of the area are the crowds (a lot of people head up to the hut each summer) and the fact that Zermatt is a really expensive place to hangout if you're using that as a base. This link will get you to a page from which you can read about and see photos of the Monte Rosa and all its subpeaks: http://www.summitpost.org/show/mountain_link.pl/mountain_id/171