Cime du Gélas
Encyclopedia
Cime du Gélas is a 3,143 m high mountain
on the boundary between France
(Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
region) and Italy
(province of Cuneo
). It is part of the Maritime Alps
.
It is the highest peak of the Mercantour National Park
, while on the Italian side it is included in the Maritime Alps Natural Park. Geologically, it is part of the Argentera
massif, and is mostly formed by granitoid
gneiss
. The peak is composed of two smaller ones, divided by a gorge; the highest peak is the northern one, which is topped by a cross built here by priests from Cuneo
.
The mountain's name derives from the glaciers which occupy its northern slopes, which have however reduced substantially during the late 20th century.
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
on the boundary between France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur or PACA is one of the 27 regions of France.It is made up of:* the former French province of Provence* the former papal territory of Avignon, known as Comtat Venaissin...
region) and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
(province of Cuneo
Province of Cuneo
ayr is a province in the southwest of the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west it borders on the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ....
). It is part of the Maritime Alps
Maritime Alps
The Maritime Alps are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between the French département Alpes-Maritimes and the Italian province of Cuneo. The Col de Tende separates them from the Ligurian Alps; the Maddalena Pass separates them from the Cottian Alps...
.
It is the highest peak of the Mercantour National Park
Mercantour National Park
Mercantour National Park is one of the nine national parks of France. Since it was created in 1979, the Mercantour Park has proven popular, with 800,000 visitors every year enjoying the 600 km of marked footpaths and visiting its villages.-Extent:...
, while on the Italian side it is included in the Maritime Alps Natural Park. Geologically, it is part of the Argentera
Argentera
Argentera is a comune in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 100 km southwest of Turin and about 60 km west of Cuneo, on the border with France. It consists of a series of sparse hamlets in the upper Valle Stura di Demonte...
massif, and is mostly formed by granitoid
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
gneiss
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
. The peak is composed of two smaller ones, divided by a gorge; the highest peak is the northern one, which is topped by a cross built here by priests from Cuneo
Cuneo
Cuneo is a city and comune in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the third largest of Italy’s provinces by area...
.
The mountain's name derives from the glaciers which occupy its northern slopes, which have however reduced substantially during the late 20th century.