the.com/col
the lowest pass between two peaks, where mountains finally agree to let you through
means A col is a saddle-shaped low point or pass on a ridge between two higher summits, often the easiest route across a mountain chain.
from Straight from French col, meaning 'neck' — itself from Latin collum, the throat between head and shoulders. Mountaineers borrowed the body's anatomy for the landscape: a col is the slender neck of high ground linking two peaks, the place where the ridge dips like a bent nape. The same Latin collum gives us 'collar,' the thing that rings a neck.
- french origin
- From Latin collum, meaning neck of the land
- saddle shape
- Geographers call it a saddle point too
- climbers love it
- The path of least suffering over a ridge
- wind tunnel
- Cols funnel fierce gales between summits
col du tourmalet — french pyrenees mountain pass, 2,115m, featured in tour de france 80+ times
col de l'iseran — highest alpine pass in france at 2,764m, in savoy region
col de la bonette — second highest road pass in alps at 2,802m, between france and italy