The Chartreuse Mountains (french: massif de la Chartreuse ) are a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

in southeastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, stretching from the city of

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

in the south to the

Lac du Bourget Lac du Bourget (; English Lake Bourget), also locally known as Lac Gris (; en, Grey Lake) or Lac d'Aix (), is a lake at the southernmost end of the Jura Mountains in the department of Savoie, France. It is the deepest lake located entirely with ...

in the north. They are part of the

French Prealps The French Prealps (french: Préalpes) are a group of subalpine mountain ranges of medium elevation located immediately west of the French Alps. They roughly stretch from Lake Geneva southwest to the rivers Isère and Drôme; east to a line run ...

, which continue as the

Bauges The Bauges Mountains (French: ''Massif des Bauges'') is a mountain range in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Eastern France, stretching from the city of Annecy, Haute-Savoie to the city of Chambéry, Savoie, which is part of the French Prealps. Major ...

to the north and the Vercors to the south.

Etymology

The name ''Chartreuse'' is derived from the village now known as Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse, earlier ''Catorissium'', ''Cantourisa'', ''Caturissium'', and ''Chatrousse''. It appears to be of

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerl ...

origin; and is perhaps related to the name of the

Caturiges The Caturiges (Gaulish: ''Caturīges'', 'kings of combat') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper Durance valley, around present-day towns of Chorges and Embrun, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Catur ...

tribe.

Geography

The mountain range rises between

(south),

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chamb ...

(north),

Voiron Voiron (; frp, Vouèron) is a commune (French municipality) in the ninth district of the Isère department in southeastern France. It is the capital of the canton of Voiron and has been part of the Grenoble-Alpes Métropole since 2010. Voiro ...

and Saint-Laurent-du-Pont (west) and

Grésivaudan The Grésivaudan (sometimes Graisivaudan) is a valley of the French Alps, situated mostly in the Isère. Etymologically, ''Graisivaudan'' comes from roots meaning "Grenoble" (''Gratianopolis'') and "valley".''Robert des noms propres'' It compris ...

(''Isère valley'', east)

Main summits

Summits of the Chartreuse Mountains include: *

Chamechaude Chamechaude is the highest summit in the Chartreuse Massif in the Isère department in eastern France. It is the fourth most prominent mountain in metropolitan France. Ascent The ascent is a hike, but there are also several climbing routes on th ...

, *

Dent de Crolles The Dent de Crolles () is a karstic mountain (2,062 m) of the Chartreuse Mountains range, north east of Grenoble, Isère, France. It has a characteristic "tooth-like" profile and is easily recognizable in the Isère Valley (Grésivaudan) in the ...

, *

Les Lances de Malissard The Lances de Malissard are two summits, located in the Chartreuse Mountains in the Department of Isère, in the French Prealps. More than the peaks themselves, it is the long ridge that is north–south facing, that separate the col de Bellefon ...

Grand Som The Grand Som is a mountain of the Chartreuse Mountains in the French Prealps, in Isère, France. It has a long ridge, unevenly sharp, overlooking the Petit Som (1,772m), the Col de la Ruchère northwest and the Grande Chartreuse monastery below ...

, * Dôme de Bellefont * Piton de Bellefont * Mont Granier, * La Grande Sure, * Le Charmant Som * Sommet du Pinet ou le Truc * Rochers de Chalves * Rocher de Lorzier * Dent de l'Ours * Scia *

Petit Som The Grand Som is a mountain of the Chartreuse Mountains in the French Prealps, in Isère, France. It has a long ridge, unevenly sharp, overlooking the Petit Som (1,772m), the Col de la Ruchère northwest and the Grande Chartreuse monastery below ...

* Pinéa * Mont Outheran * Grands Crêts *

Pointe de la Gorgeat The Pointe de la Gorgeat is a Chartreuse Mountain culminating at 1,486 m above sea level in the French department of Savoie. Hike Departure is possible from the Col du Granier Col du Granier (el. 1,134 m.) is a mountain pass in the Alps in the ...

* Écoutoux *

mont Saint-Eynard Mont may refer to: Places * Mont., an abbreviation for Montana, a U.S. state * Mont, Belgium (disambiguation), several places in Belgium * Mont, Hautes-Pyrénées, a commune in France * Mont, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a commune in France * Mont, Sa� ...

Néron Neron or Néron may refer to: * Neron (DC Comics), a fictional character in the DC Comics' universe. * An alternative name of the Roman Emperor Nero * André Néron, a mathematician, who introduced: ** Néron minimal model ** Néron differentia ...

* Rachais

Main passes

Passes of the Chartreuse Mountains include :

With road

Col de la Charmette In geomorphology, a col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks.Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984, p. 103. . It may also be called a gap. Particularly rugged and forbidding co ...

* Col de la Cluse *

Col du Coq In geomorphology, a col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks.Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984, p. 103. . It may also be called a gap. Particularly rugged and forbidding co ...

Col du Cucheron The Col du Cucheron, culminating at 1139 m above sea level, is one of the points of the long depression of the "three passes" of the Chartreuse massif linking Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse south to Saint-Pierre d'Entremont north. Hence, it lies be ...

Col du Granier Col du Granier (el. 1,134 m.) is a mountain pass in the Alps in the department of Savoie in France which crosses the Chartreuse Mountains to connect the villages of Entremont-le-Vieux (south), Apremont (north) and Chapareillan (east). It has been ...

Col de Porte The Col de Porte (elevation ) is a mountain pass situated in the Chartreuse Mountains in the Isère department of France, between Le Sappey-en-Chartreuse to the south and Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse to the north. It sits on the D512 between Grenobl ...

Col de Palaquit The Col de Palaquit (altitude ) is a mountain pass situated in the Chartreuse Mountains in the Isère department of France, near the village of Sarcenas. The Tour de France cycle race crossed the col for the first time on Stage 13 of the 2014 rac ...

*Col de Vence *

Col de la Placette In geomorphology, a col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks.Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984, p. 103. . It may also be called a gap. Particularly rugged and forbidding co ...

Without road

Col de l'Alpe In geomorphology, a col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks.Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984, p. 103. . It may also be called a gap. Particularly rugged and forbidding co ...

* Col de l'Alpette * Col des Ayes *Col de Charmille * Col des Émeindras *Col de la Faîta *

Col de Bellefond In geomorphology, a col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks.Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984, p. 103. . It may also be called a gap. Particularly rugged and forbidding co ...

*Col de Léchaud *

Col de la Ruchère The Col de la Ruchère is a mountain pass located at 1,407 m above sea level, in the township of Saint-Christophe-sur-Guiers in the Chartreuse Mountains between the ''Riondettes'' meadow at La Ruchère and the Grande Chartreuse monastery Gr ...

*Col de la Sure *Col de la Grande Vache *Col de la Petite Vache *Col du Baure

Main canyons

Canyons of the Chartreuse Mountains include : *

Gorges du Guiers Vif The Gorges du Guiers Vif (or Gorges du Frou) is a canyon located in Isère and Savoie between the towns of Corbel and Saint-Christophe-sur-Guiers, and having as tributary the Guiers Vif. Transportation In 1994 a little road was built that directly ...

Gorges du Guiers Mort The Gorges du Guiers Mort is a canyon located in the French department of Isère, downstream of Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse. The river Guiers Mort flows through it. (Barcelona) A Bridge over a mountain Stream - Gorges du Guiers Mort, Chartreuse ...

* Gorges du Ténaison * Gorges de la Vence * Gorge du Manival * Gorges de l'Echaillon * Gorges du Cozon Rau

Main plateaux

Plateaux of the Chartreuse Mountains include : *

Plateau des Petites Roches In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

Plateau du Grand-Ratz In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

Main Caves

The main caves in the Chartreuse include : *
, long, deep. *

Réseau de la Dent de Crolles The term réseau derives from a French word meaning "network". It may mean: *a network of fine lines on a glass plate, used in photographic telescopes to make a corresponding network on photographs of the stars: see Réseau plate *a system of weath ...

- about long, deep. * Système du Granier, long, deep. * Réseau de

malissard Malissard (; oc, Maleissart) is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Drôme department The following is a list of the 363 communes of the Drôme department of France. The communes ...

, long, deep. * Système Pinet-Brouillard, long, deep.

Geology

The lithology is dominated by

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...

, and several hundred kilometres of

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

passages lie beneath the hills, including the world-famous 60 km long

system.

Winter sports resorts

Chartreuse winter sports resorts include : * Le Désert d'Entremont, where the use of

snowshoe Snowshoes are specialized outdoor gear for walking over snow. Their large footprint spreads the user's weight out and allows them to travel largely on top of rather than through snow. Adjustable bindings attach them to appropriate winter footwe ...

s has been particularly developed * Granier en Chartreuse * Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse and Le Planolet * Saint-Hugues-de-Chartreuse *

* Le Sappey-en-Chartreuse *

La Ruchère Saint-Christophe-sur-Guiers (, literally ''Saint-Christophe on Guiers'') is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. La Ruchère La Ruchère, rural district, mainly famous for cross country skiing slopes, was attached to Saint- ...

(

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreatio ...

) * Saint-Hilaire-du-Touvet * Col de Marcieu *

Environment

* The

Parc Naturel Régional de la Chartreuse Parc Naturel Régional de la Chartreuse (Chartreuse Regional Nature Park) is a regional nature park located in the region Rhône-Alpes between Chambéry, Grenoble and Voiron, on the border of the departments of Isère and Savoie. It is based on the ...

was founded in May 1995. * The Réserve Naturelle des Hauts de Chartreuse was founded in 1997. It includes seven Isère townships and four

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population o ...

townships.

Miscellaneous

The Chartreuse Mountains gave their name to the monastery of the

Grande Chartreuse Grande Chartreuse () is the head monastery of the Carthusian religious order. It is located in the Chartreuse Mountains, north of the city of Grenoble, in the commune of Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse ( Isère), France. History Originally, the ...

, the monastic

Carthusian Order The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order h ...

takes its name from these mountains, where its first hermitage was founded in 1084. Also derived from the mountain range's name is that of the alcoholic cordial Chartreuse produced by the monks since the 1740s, and of the chartreuse colour,

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

ish

hue In color theory, hue is one of the main properties (called color appearance parameters) of a color, defined technically in the CIECAM02 model as "the degree to which a stimulus can be described as similar to or different from stimuli that ...

of the Chartreuse liqueur, named after the drink.

References

External links

Chartreuse: A Walking GuideA Wiki-Walks guide to some less well known hiking routes in the Chartreuse
{{Authority control Mountain ranges of the Alps Mountain ranges of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Mountains of Isère Mountains of Savoie