Dent d'Hérens

The Dent d'Hérens (4,174 m) is a mountain in the Pennine Alps, lying on the border between Italy and Switzerland. The mountain lies a few kilometres west of the Matterhorn.

The Aosta hut (2,781 m) is used for the normal route.

Naming

The mountain takes its name from the Val d'Hérens, a valley located further to the north. The original name was probably the Dent Blanche, which is now that of the nearby Dent Blanche which overlooks the Val d'Hérens. On older maps, in the area where both summits lie, only the name Weisszahnhorn (from German: White Tooth Peak) was given, the French name (Dent Blanche) appearing only in 1820. Because cartographers usually made their observations far away from the remoter areas and also because the Dent d'Hérens is sometime hidden behind the Dent Blanche, thus being less visible, the latter received the name. The inhabitants of the lower Val d'Hérens called the Dent d'Hérens, the Dent Blanche, but those of the upper Val d'Hérens called it the Dent de Rong or the Dent d'Erins, contributing to the general confusion. The names used today have been the official ones since the completion of the Dufour map in 1862.