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French Alps

Coordinates: 45°50′01″N 06°51′54″E / 45.83361°N 6.86500°E / 45.83361; 6.86500
From Tilcayo Cats, the lean encyclopaedia by Tilcayo Knowledge Systems
French Alps
[mapframe not available on SimWiki]
Highest point
PeakMont Blanc
Elevation4,807.45 m (15,772.5 ft)
Coordinates45°50′01″N 06°51′54″E / 45.83361°N 6.86500°E / 45.83361; 6.86500
Naming
Native nameFrench: Alpes françaises
Geography
French regions
Borders onSwiss Alps, Italian Alps
Geology
OrogenyAlpine orogeny
Rock ageTertiary
Rock types
  • Bündner schist
  • flysch
  • molasse

The French Alps[1] are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as the Mont Blanc massif, are shared with Switzerland and Italy.

At 4,808 metres (15,774 ft), Mont Blanc, on the France–Italy border, is the highest mountain in the Alps, and the highest Western European mountain.[2]

Notable towns in the French Alps include Grenoble, Chamonix, Annecy, Chambéry, Évian-les-Bains and Albertville.

The French Alps will host the 2030 Winter Olympics, marking the fourth occasion when the Winter Olympics were held in the region. The games were previously held in Albertville in 1992, Grenoble in 1968, and the very first in Chamonix in 1924.

Ranges and summits

Chain Range Highest summit Elevation (m/ft)
Graian Alps Mont Blanc Massif Mont Blanc 4,807.45 metres (15,772 ft)
Beaufortain Massif Roignais 2,995 metres (9,826 ft)
Lauzière Massif Grand Pic de la Lauzière 2,829 metres (9,281 ft)
Vanoise Massif Grande Casse 3,855 metres (12,648 ft)
Graian Alps central group Pointe de Charbonnel 3,752 metres (12,310 ft)
Dauphiné Alps Belledonne Massif Grand Pic de Belledonne 2,977 metres (9,767 ft)
Grandes Rousses Pic Bayle 3,465 metres (11,368 ft)
Arves Massif Aiguilles d'Arves 3,514 metres (11,529 ft)
Taillefer Massif Le Taillefer 2,857 metres (9,373 ft)
Écrins Massif Barre des Écrins 4,102 metres (13,458 ft)
Cottian Alps Massif du Mont-Cenis Pointe de Ronce 3,612 metres (11,850 ft)
Cerces Massif Grand Galibier 3,229 metres (10,594 ft)
Queyras Massif Rochebrune Peak 3,320 metres (10,892 ft)
Ubaye Massif (Orrenaye) Aiguille de Chambeyron 3,411 metres (11,191 ft)
Maritime Alps Mercantour-Argentera Massif Cime du Gélas 3,143 metres (10,312 ft)
Pelat Massif Mont Pelat 3,050 metres (10,007 ft)
Massif des Trois-Évêchés Tête de l'Estrop 2,961 metres (9,715 ft)
Ligurian Alps Ligurian Alps Punta Marguareis 2,651 metres (8,698 ft)
Savoy Prealps Chablais Alps Hauts-Forts 2,464 metres (8,084 ft)
Haut-Giffre Massif Haute Cime 3,257 metres (10,686 ft)
Aiguilles Rouges Aiguille du Belvédère 2,965 metres (9,728 ft)
Bornes Pointe Blanche 2,438 metres (7,999 ft)
Aravis Range Pointe Percée 2,750 metres (9,022 ft)
Bauges Arcalod 2,217 metres (7,274 ft)
Chartreuse Mountains Chamechaude 2,082 metres (6,831 ft)
Dauphiné Prealps Vercors Massif Grand Veymont 2,341 metres (7,680 ft)
Diois Mountains Mont Jocou 2,051 metres (6,729 ft)
Dévoluy Mountains Grande Tête de l'Obiou 2,789 metres (9,150 ft)
Provence Prealps Bochaine Mont Céüse 2,016 metres (6,614 ft)
Digne Prealps Les Monges 2,115 metres (6,939 ft)
Baronnies Mont Mare 1,603 metres (5,259 ft)
Vaucluse Mountains Signal de Saint-Pierre 1,256 metres (4,121 ft)
Luberon Mountains Mourre Nègre 1,125 metres (3,691 ft)
Maritime Prealps Castellan Prealps Puy de Rent 1,996 metres (6,549 ft)
Nice Prealps Pointe des Trois Communes 2,080 metres (6,824 ft)

Ski areas

The largest connected ski areas are:

  1. Les Trois Vallées (Courchevel, Méribel, La Tania, Brides-les-Bains, Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, Les Menuires, Val Thorens and Orelle): 338 slopes, 600 km of pistes.
  2. Portes du Soleil (Avoriaz, Châtel, Morzine, Les Gets, Saint-Jean d'Aulps, La Chapelle d'Abondance, Abondance, Montriond, Swiss resorts): 288 slopes, 650 km of slopes not entirely connected.
  3. Paradiski (La Plagne, Peisey-Vallandry, Les Arcs), Champagny-en-Vanoise: 239 slopes, 420 km of slopes.
  4. Via Lattea (Montgenèvre, Italian resorts): 214 slopes, 400 km of slopes.
  5. Évasion Mont-Blanc (Combloux, Megève, Saint-Gervais, Saint-Nicolas-de-Véroce, Les Contamines Monjoie): 183 slopes, 420 km of slopes not entirely connected.
  6. Espace Killy (Tignes, Val-d'Isère): 137 slopes, 300 km of slopes.
  7. Grand Massif (Flaine, Les Carroz, Morillon, Samoëns, Sixt): 134 slopes, 265 km of slopes.
  8. Les Aravis (La Clusaz, Manigod, La Croix Fry, Merdassier, Le Grand-Bornand): 133 slopes, 220 km of slopes not entirely connected.
  9. Les Grandes Rousses (L'Alpe d'Huez, Vaujany, Auris-en-Oisans, Oz-en-Oisans, Villard-Reculas): 117 slopes, 236 km of slopes.
  10. Serre Chevalier: 111 slopes, 250 km of slopes.
  11. La Forêt Blanche (Risoul, Vars): 104 slopes, 180 km of slopes.
  12. Les Sybelles (Le Corbier, La Toussuire, Les Bottières, Saint-Jean-d'Arves, Saint-Sorlin-d'Arves, Saint-Colomban-des-Villards): 96 slopes, 310 km of slopes.
  13. Valloire and Valmeinier: 83 slopes, 150 km of slopes.
  14. Grand Domaine (Valmorel, Saint-François-Longchamp): 82 slopes, 150 km of slopes
  15. Espace San Bernardo (La Rosière, La Thuile - Italy): 73 slopes, 150 km of slopes.
  16. Les Deux Alpes and La Grave: 69 slopes, 220 km of slopes. (+ Freeride Zone)

The other large ski areas are:

Activities

A range of winter and summer activities are available in the French Alps. In the winter, these include skiing and snowboarding; alternative activities include snowshoeing and sledging. There is a range of other activities that happen such as gliding, which is more popular during the summer months.[3] Summer activities include hiking, mountaineering, biking and rock climbing.[4]

See also

References

Wikivoyage logo
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for French Alps.
Wikimedia Commons logo
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alps of France.
  1. ↑ (French: Alpes françaises; Arpitan: Ârpes francêses; Occitan: Aups francesas; Ligurian: Arpi françéixi)
  2. ↑ "Mont Blanc shrinks by 45cm in two years". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2009-11-05. Archived from the original on 2023-02-14.
  3. ↑ "frenchalps.co.uk - Your website dedicated to information on the French Alps". frenchalps.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2016-02-07. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  4. ↑ "French Alps Mountain Activities | frenchalps.co.uk". frenchalps.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2016-01-27.

Bibliography

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This page contains text imported from the English Wikipedia (source revision 1368821732). Its authors are credited under CC BY-SA 4.0: see the attribution record.