Notes
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This article lists the principal mountain passes and tunnels in the Alps, and gives a history of transport across the Alps.
The following are the main paved road passes across the Alps. Main indicates on the main chain of the Alps, from south west to east. Passes on subsidiary ranges are listed where the ridge leaves the main chain – N/W indicates north or west of the main chain, S/E on the south or east side. Heights in brackets indicate true pass height, not the high point of the road.
Detailed lists of passes are given by Alpine subdivision, see the following articles:
Main chain, from west to east:
| name | location | countries | length (km) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Col de Tende Road Tunnel | Tende to Cuneo | France, Italy | 3.2 |
| Fréjus Road Tunnel | Modane to Susa | France, Italy | 12.9 |
| Mont Blanc Tunnel | Chamonix to Courmayeur | France, Italy | 11.6 |
| Great St Bernard Tunnel | Martigny to Aosta | Switzerland, Italy | 5.9 |
| St. Gotthard Tunnel | Göschenen to Airolo | Switzerland | 17 |
| San Bernardino Tunnel | Splügen to Bellinzona | Switzerland | 7.7 |
| Felbertauern Tunnel | Mittersill to Lienz | Austria | 5.3 |
| Tauern Road Tunnel | Eben im Pongau to Sankt Michael im Lungau | Austria | 6.4 |
Notable other tunnels:
| name | location | countries | length (km) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arlberg Tunnel | Langen am Arlberg to St Anton am Arlberg | Austria | 13.976 |
| Karawanks Tunnel | Villach to Jesenice | Austria, Slovenia | 7.864 |
Main chain, from west to east:
| name | type | location | countries | length (km) | elevation (m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colle di Cadibona | pass | Savona to Ceva | Italy | 436 | |
| Tunnel de Tende | tunnel | Tende to Cuneo | France, Italy | 8.1 | |
| Fréjus Rail Tunnel | tunnel | Modane to Susa | France, Italy | 13.7 | 1123 |
| Simplon Tunnel | tunnel | Brig to Domodossola | Switzerland, Italy | 19.8 | 705 |
| Gotthard Rail Tunnel | tunnel | Göschenen to Airolo | Switzerland | 15 | 1151 |
| Gotthard Base Tunnel | tunnel | Erstfeld to Biasca | Switzerland | 57.1 | 549 |
| Bernina Pass | pass | Pontresina to Tirano | Switzerland | 2323 | |
| Brenner Pass | pass | Innsbruck to Sterzing | Austria, Italy | 1370 | |
| Tauern Tunnel | tunnel | Bad Gastein to Obervellach | Austria | 8.6 | |
| Schober Pass | pass | Liezen to Leoben | Austria | 849 | |
| Präbichl | pass | Eisenerz to Leoben | Austria | 1204 |
Notable other railway passes and tunnels:
| name | type | location | countries | length (km) | elevation (m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arlberg Railway Tunnel | tunnel | Langen am Arlberg to St Anton am Arlberg | Austria | 10.6 | 1303 |
| Karawanks Tunnel | tunnel | Villach to Jesenice | Austria, Slovenia | 8.0 | |
| Lötschberg Tunnel | tunnel | Spiez to Brig | Switzerland | 14.6 | 1240 |
| Lötschberg Base Tunnel | tunnel | Spiez to Brig | Switzerland | 34.6 | 828 |
| Oberalp Pass | pass | Andermatt to Disentis | Switzerland | 2044 | |
| Semmering | tunnel | Gloggnitz to Mürzzuschlag | Austria | 1.5 | 965 |
Places where the Alps were crossed are called passes, and are points at which the alpine chain sinks to form depressions, up to which deep-cut valleys lead from the plains & hilly pre-mountainous zones. The oldest names for such passes are Mont (still retained in cases of Mont Cenis and Monte Moro), for it was many ages before this term was applied to mountains themselves, which with a few very rare exceptions (e.g. Monte Viso was known to the Romans as Vesulus) were for a long time disregarded. [1]
Native inhabitants of the Alps were naturally the first to use the passes. The passes first became known to the outside world when the Romans crossed them to raid or conquer the region beyond. Romans, once having found an "easy" way across the chain, did not trouble to seek for harder and more devious routes. Hence, passes that can be shown as certainly known to them are relatively few in number: they are, in topographical order from west to east, the Col de l'Argentière, the Col de Montgenèvre, the Col du Mont Cenis, the two St Bernard passes (Little St Bernard Pass and Great St Bernard Pass), the Splügen Pass, the Septimer Pass, the Reschen Pass, the Brenner Pass, the Plöcken Pass, the Pontebba Pass (or Saifnitz Pass), the Radstädter Tauern Pass and the Solkscharte Pass or Sölk Pass. [1]
Of these the Montgenèvre and the Brenner were the most frequented. In the Central Alps only two passes (the Splügen and the Septimer) were certainly known to the Romans. In fact the central portion of the Alps was by far the least Romanised region until the early Middle Ages. Thus the Simplon is first definitely mentioned in 1235, the St Gotthard in 1236, the Lukmanier in 965, the San Bernardino in 941; of course they may have been known before, but authentic history is silent as regards them till the dates specified. Even the Mont Cenis (from the 15th to the 19th century the favourite pass for travellers going from France to Italy) is first heard of only in 756. [2]
In the 13th century many hitherto unknown passes came into prominence, even some of the easy glacier passes. In the Western and Central Alps there is only one ridge to cross, to which access is gained by a deep-cut valley, though often it would be shorter to cross a second pass in order to reach the plains, e.g. the Montgenèvre, that is most directly reached by the Col du Lautaret; and the Simplon, which is best reached by one of the lower passes over the western portion of the Bernese Oberland chain. On the other hand, in the Eastern Alps, it is generally necessary to cross three distinct ridges between the northern and southern plains, the Central ridge being the highest and most difficult to cross. Thus the passes which crossed a single ridge, and did not involve too great a detour through a long valley of approach, became the most important and the most popular, e.g. the Mont Cenis, the Great St Bernard, the St Gotthard, the Septimer and the Brenner. [3]
As time went on the Alpine passes were improved to make travel easier. A few passes (e.g. the Semmering, the Brenner, the Col de Tende and the Arlberg) had carriage roads constructed before 1800, while those over the Umbrail and the Great St Bernard were not completed till the early years of the 20th century. Most of the carriage roads across the great alpine passes were thus constructed in the first half of the 19th century, largely due to the Napoleon's need for such roads as modes of military transport. As late as 1905, the highest pass over the main chain that had a carriage road was the Great St Bernard (2,472 m (8,111 ft)), but three still higher passes over side ridges have roads—the col de l'Iseran, the Stelvio Pass (2,760 m (9,040 ft)), the Col du Galibier (2,658 m (8,721 ft)), in the Dauphiné Alps, and the Umbrail Pass (2,512 m (8,242 ft)). [3]
Railway lines, like the Brenner and the Pontebba lines, were added to speed travel through the passes and tunnels supplemented passes at the Col de Tenda, the Mont Cenis, the Simplon and the St Gotthard. [3]
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The Alps are the highest and most extensive mountain range that is entirely in Europe, stretching approximately 1,200 km (750 mi) across eight Alpine countries : Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Slovenia, and Austria.
The Lepontine Alps are a mountain range in the north-western part of the Alps. They are located in Switzerland and Italy.
The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main physiographic regions. The Swiss Alps extend over both the Western Alps and the Eastern Alps, encompassing an area sometimes called Central Alps. While the northern ranges from the Bernese Alps to the Appenzell Alps are entirely in Switzerland, the southern ranges from the Mont Blanc massif to the Bernina massif are shared with other countries such as France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein.
The main chain of the Alps, also called the Alpine divide is the central line of mountains that forms the drainage divide of the range. Main chains of mountain ranges are traditionally designated in this way, and generally include the highest peaks of a range. The Alps are something of an unusual case in that several significant groups of mountains are separated from the main chain by sizable distances. Among these groups are the Dauphine Alps, the Eastern and Western Graians, the entire Bernese Alps, the Tödi, Albula and Silvretta groups, the Ortler and Adamello ranges, and the Dolomites of South Tyrol, as well as the lower Alps of Vorarlberg, Bavaria, and Salzburg.
Valais, more formally the Canton of Valais, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion. The flag of the canton is made of thirteen stars representing the districts, on a white-red background.
The Great St Bernard Pass is the third highest road pass in Switzerland, at an elevation of 2,469 m (8,100 ft). It connects Martigny in the canton of Valais in Switzerland with Aosta in the region Aosta Valley in Italy. It is the lowest pass lying on the ridge between the two highest mountains of the Alps, Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa. It is located on the main watershed that separates the basin of the Rhône from that of the Po.
The Grossglockner, or just Glockner, is, at 3,798 metres above the Adriatic (12,461 ft), the highest mountain in Austria and the highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass. It is part of the larger Glockner Group of the Hohe Tauern range, situated along the main ridge of the Central Eastern Alps and the Alpine divide. The Pasterze, Austria's most extended glacier, lies on the Grossglockner's eastern slope.
The High Tauern are a mountain range on the main chain of the Central Eastern Alps, comprising the highest peaks east of the Brenner Pass. The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian states of Salzburg, Carinthia and East Tyrol, with a small part in the southwest belongs to the Italian province of South Tyrol. The range includes Austria's highest mountain, the Grossglockner at 3,798 metres (12,461 ft) above the Adriatic.
Septimer Pass is a high mountain pass in the canton of Graubünden in the Swiss Alps between the valleys of Bregaglia (Bergell) and Surses (Oberhalbstein). It is traditionally considered the boundary between the Oberhalbstein and Albula Alps. During the Middle Ages, this, the Great St. Bernard, and the Brenner Passes were the preferred routes over the Alps for traveling emperors. The nearest inhabited localities on the approaches of the Septimer Pass are Casaccia on the south and Bivio on the north.
Mont Cenis is a massif in Savoie (France), which forms the limit between the Cottian and Graian Alps.
The Alps form a large mountain range dominating Central Europe, including parts of Italy, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovenia, Germany and Hungary.
The Lower Tauern or Niedere Tauern are a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps, in the Austrian states of Salzburg and Styria.
The Susa Valley is a valley in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont region of northern Italy, located between the Graian Alps in the north and the Cottian Alps in the south. It is one of the longest valleys of the Italian Alps. It extends over 50 kilometres (31 mi) in an east-west direction from the French border to the outskirts of Turin. The valley takes its name from the city of Susa which lies in the valley. The Dora Riparia river, a tributary of the Po, flows through the valley.
The Route nationale 6 is a trunk road (nationale) in France between Paris and the frontier with Italy in the Alps.
The Lötschberg is an Alpine mountain massif and usually associated with a major, historically important transit axis of the Alps in Switzerland with, at its core, the Lötschen Pass. The mountain pass, which culminates at nearly 2,700 metres above sea level, are part of the eastern Bernese Alps, whose main crest straddles the border between the cantons of Berne and Valais. The valleys concerned by the Lötschberg are those of the Kander in the Berner Oberland, with Kandersteg at the head of it, and a secluded side-valley of the Upper Valais, the Lötschental, with Ferden at the valley's entrance and at the bottom of the pass.
The construction and operation of Swiss railways during the 19th century was carried out by private railways. The first internal line was a 16 km line opened from Zürich to Baden in 1847. By 1860 railways connected western and northeastern Switzerland. The first Alpine railway to be opened was under the Gotthard Pass in 1882. A second alpine line was opened under the Simplon Pass in 1906.
The Venediger Group is a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps. Together with the Granatspitze Group, the Glockner Group, the Goldberg Group, and the Ankogel Group, it forms the main ridge of the High Tauern. The highest peak is the Großvenediger at 3,657 m (AA), which gives its name to the group. Considerable parts of the Venediger Group belong to the core zone of the High Tauern National Park.
The word Tauern is German and originally meant 'high mountain pass' in the Austrian Central Alps, referring to the many bridleways and passes of the parallel side valleys of the River Salzach that cut into the mountain ranges. From the Middle Ages, when mining reached its heyday, the word Tauern was also used to name the corresponding ranges. The name has survived in many local placenames today.
The France–Italy border is 515 km long. It runs from the Alps in the north, a region in which it passes over Mont Blanc, down to the Mediterranean coast in the south. Three national parks are located along the border: Vanoise National Park and Mercantour National Park on the French side and Gran Paradiso National Park on the Italian side.
