Tour Monte Rosa · Stage 3
Over the Colle di Rothorn, the classic line; the official site gives the Bettaforca pass, served by lifts, as the alternative. Rifugio Gabiet did not open in 2026: ask before you book. Staffal, 3.6 km before the stage end, has hotels; from there, walk up trail 7A in the morning. The Staffal to Gabiet cable car ran only until 23 August in 2026.
Best season: Mid-June to mid-September, while the huts and lifts run. The official site gives June to September, weather permitting. In 2026 the Italian huts were open from mid-June to mid-September: Rifugio del Teodulo 13 June to 14 September, Rifugio Pastore 13 June to 13 September. Most lifts stopped on 13 September, and Rifugio Gabiet stayed closed all summer. For 2027, only Rifugio Guide Frachey has published its reopening, after 4 June; the other huts have no 2027 summer dates yet. Before you go
Facts read from the operators' own pages and OpenStreetMap on 26 September 2026. A page can change after we read it, so confirm with the hut before you rely on a date or a bed.
Stage start
Town
Two huts in the hamlet above Saint-Jacques. The official stage ends 400 m lower at Saint-Jacques, which has hotels and the bus down the Val d'Ayas.
A town or village: find accommodation yourself. TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Rifugio G.B. Ferraro · Staffed mountain hut · 2066 m
Season 2026: 30 May 2026 to 14 September 2026
Rifugio Guide Frachey · Staffed mountain hut · 2060 m
Season 2026: until 30 September 2026
Stage end · overnight
Staffed mountain hut · 2,375 m · Private
Neither operator publishes a walking time for this exact leg. Our estimate for the stage is 5 h 28, computed from the mapped line and its climbing.
Make it your trip
The Tour Monte Rosa has no central booking: each hut and hotel is booked on its own. The Italian huts close in mid-September. Each night below shows its season and how to book, read from the hut's own page or the regional listing.
The nine official stages round Monte Rosa, anticlockwise: over the Theodul glacier into Italy, and back over the Monte Moro pass and along the Europaweg.
Plan this journeyOver the Theodul glacier and across the Italian valleys to Macugnaga, with buses to Domodossola.
Plan this journeyOver the Monte Moro pass into the Saas valley and along the Europaweg to Zermatt, with no glacier.
Plan this journeyLoading the forecast for low point (1,821 m) and high point (2,683 m)…
Typical weather on this stage: at the lowest point (1,821 m) and the highest point (2,683 m). Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
| Month | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Good | Good | Mixed | Mixed | Poor | Poor |
| High point, day / night | -4°/-10° | -4°/-11° | -3°/-9° | -1°/-7° | 4°/-2° | 8°/2° | 11°/4° | 11°/5° | 8°/2° | 4°/-1° | 0°/-5° | -2°/-9° |
| Low point, day / night | 1°/-7° | 1°/-7° | 3°/-5° | 5°/-2° | 10°/2° | 14°/6° | 16°/8° | 17°/9° | 13°/6° | 9°/3° | 5°/-2° | 2°/-5° |
| Rain, mm | 67 | 58 | 67 | 90 | 93 | 85 | 72 | 75 | 77 | 93 | 136 | 79 |
| Snow at high point | Likely | Likely | Likely | Likely | Likely | Likely | – | – | – | Possible | Likely | Likely |
| Daylight | 9 h 02 | 10 h 20 | 11 h 49 | 13 h 29 | 14 h 54 | 15 h 42 | 15 h 25 | 14 h 12 | 12 h 37 | 11 h 01 | 9 h 31 | 8 h 42 |
Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.
Before you go
Arrange your stays, food and travel first, then check conditions again near departure.
Stage 1 crosses the Theodul glacier to the pass at 3,300 m and is graded T5. The official site says to rope up or go with a mountain guide, and lists crampons, an ice axe, a harness, a helmet and a rope; Zermatt Tourism says not to go onto a glacier without a guide. The Klein Matterhorn cable car shortens the day, but from Testa Grigia the hut is still about 30 minutes over the glacier. If you do not cross it, start from Macugnaga or Saas-Fee instead.
Official stage 1: Zermatt to the Theodul passRifugio Gabiet, at the end of stage 3, did not open all summer. The Europaweg is closed between Springelboden and Eggenstadel, with a signed detour by Täsch. The upper Monte Moro cable car was closed for repairs in July. Ask the huts, the Europaweg and the lift operators before you rely on them in 2027.
Europaweg: current noticeFive passes are above 2,700 m: the Theodul, the Colle Superiore delle Cime Bianche, the Passo dei Salati, the Colle del Turlo and the Monte Moro. The official stage pages say snow, ice or a sudden change of weather make them dangerous. Check the forecast, turn back in time, and tell someone your plan. For help, call 144 or Rega on 1414 in Switzerland, and 112 in Italy.
Official site: safetyBook each hut directly, by email or phone or on its own site. Rifugio Pastore takes a card deposit online, refunded less €25 if you cancel at least 72 hours ahead. The Europahütte takes bookings by phone and email only. Rifugio del Teodulo takes them by email only.
Official site: the stages and where to stayGetting there
Travel around Résy to Rifugio Gabiet.
Google Maps journey searches, not confirmed services. A mountain endpoint may need a booked transfer or an additional walk.
Zermatt is car-free. Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn trains run from Visp and Brig all year; drivers park in Täsch and take the shuttle train, every 20 minutes, about 12 minutes. Randa, below the Europahütte, and St. Niklaus are on the same line.
Official stage 1: getting thereV.I.T.A. buses run up the Val d'Ayas to Saint-Jacques and up the Gressoney valley to Gressoney-La-Trinité; their summer timetable ran 11 June to 9 September 2026. ATAP line 50 runs from Vercelli and Varallo to Alagna. Comazzi buses run from Domodossola to Macugnaga, on the winter timetable from 14 September 2026.
V.I.T.A.: timetablesPostBus 511 runs from Saas-Fee to Visp and Brig all year. Lines 551 and 552 link Grächen with St. Niklaus and Visp, and 554 runs from St. Niklaus to Herbriggen.
PostBus: network mapTake your trip with you
Prepare each stage while you still have a connection, and test it offline before you set out: the glacier and the high passes have little or no signal.
Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.
Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.
Route & sources
The Verein Tour Monte Rosa walks the tour anticlockwise from Zermatt in nine stages: 173 km and 10,600 m of climbing on its home page, 174 km on its stage pages. The line here is the route as mapped on OpenStreetMap on 21 September 2026, from its nine mapped stages: 164.6 km. Three of its stages end at huts instead of the official villages: stage 2 at Résy, not Saint-Jacques; stage 3 at the Gabiet lake, not Gressoney; and stage 4 at Rifugio Pastore, beyond Alagna. So the official times are shown only for stages 1, 6, 7 and 8, which start and end in the same places. On stage 9 the day takes the official detour round the closed Europaweg: 23.6 km and 8 h 45; its GPX still follows the mapped line, with the closure marked.
Official guidance and mapped-source comparison checked 26 September 2026. Map data is a route reference, not confirmation of today's path, weather or accommodation availability.
Verein Tour Monte Rosa: the official siteMap data © OpenStreetMap contributors · Source relation