Churfirsten is a mountain range in the Canton of St. Gallen,

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. They form the natural boundary between the canton's Toggenburg and Sarganserland districts. They are the southernmost range of the Appenzell Alps, separated from the

Glarus Alps The Glarus Alps () are a mountain range in central Switzerland. They are bordered by the Uri Alps and the Schwyz Alps to the west, the Lepontine Alps to the south, the Appenzell Alps to the northeast. The eastern part of the Glarus Alps contains ...

by the Seez river and

Walensee Lake Walen, also known as Lake Walenstadt or (), is one of the larger lakes in Switzerland. Located in the east of the country, about two thirds of its area are in the canton of St. Gallen and about one third in the canton of Glarus. Its na ...

. They consist of a

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

ridge A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated geomorphologic landform, structural feature, or a combination of both separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides. The sides of a ridge slope away from a narrow top, the crest or ridgecrest, wi ...

running east to west, with the individual peaks formed by erosion. The ridge is defined much more sharply to the south than to the north, with an almost vertical drop of several hundred meters towards ''Walenstadtberg'' and eventually Lake Walensee at 419 m. The southern slope of the range was significantly formed by the Rhine Glacier during the

Würm glaciation The Würm glaciation or Würm stage ( or ''Würm-Glazial'', colloquially often also ''Würmeiszeit'' or ''Würmzeit''; cf. ice age), usually referred to in the literature as the Würm (often spelled "Wurm"), was the last glacial period in the ...

The name is a plural, indicating the peaks forming the historical boundary of the bishopric of Chur. It has historically also been folk-etymologized as '' Kurfürsten'', i.e. the 7 prince-electors of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

who in the later medieval period (until 1648) numbered seven, which in turn encouraged the count of seven main or "official" peaks. Schweizerisches Idiotikon
s.v. "First"
. The word ''First'' (dialectal also ''Fürst''; from Middle High German ''virst'') has a primary meaning of "roof-beam; gable", but secondarly came to mean "summit, mountain-top". The standard "seven peaks" of the Churfirsten are (from west to east): * Selun (2205 m) * Frümsel (2263 m) * Brisi (2279 m) * Zuestoll (2235 m) * Schibenstoll (2234 m) * Hinterrugg (2306 m) * Chäserrugg (2262 m) The count of exactly seven peaks is contrived; sometimes, Chäserrugg is not included and counted as part of Hinterrugg, because of its

topographical prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

of a mere 14 m. The Churfirsten seven peaks listed above have remarkably uniform heights (within just above a 100 m difference); the ridge continues both to the east and the west with a number of further peaks between 2000 and 2200 m that are not usually included as Churfirsten: *Peaks to the west of Selun: Wart (2068 m), Schären (or ''Schäären'', 2184 m), Nägeliberg (2153 m), Glattchamm (2084 m), Leistchamm (2101 m). *Peaks to the east of Chäserrugg: Tristenkolben (2159 m), Gamserrugg (2076 m).

References

{{Authority control Mountains of the Alps Mountains of Switzerland Mountains of the canton of St. Gallen Toggenburg