Mongioia

The Cima Mongioia or simply Mongioia (in Italian) or Bric de Rubren (in French) is a 3,340 metres high mountain of the Cottian Alps.

Toponymy

In the alpinistic and geographyc literature the mountain also appears as ''Grand Rubren'' or ''Monte Riouburent ''. On French maps is usually referred as ''Bric de Rubren''.

Geology

From a geological point of view the whole upper part of the mountain belongs to a complex of schists with ophiolites of a Jurassic-Cretaceous origin. Close to the summit an area of serpentinites can be noticed.
Carta Geologica d'Italia scala 1:100.000, 78-79 section- Argentera-Dronero

Geography

The Mongioia belongs to the main chain of the Alps. Its Italian side is located in the upper part of the Varaita Valley, while the French one is at the end of the Ubaye valley.

From its summit three ridges branch out:
* the first, heading NW, divides two French dells, ''Vallon du Loup'' and ''Vallon de Rubren'';
* the second heads South and consists in the stretch of the Alpine divide connecting the Mongioia with ''Passo Mongioia'' and ''Monte Giuep'';
* the third, also belonging to the Alpine divide, heads East towards the ''Passo di Salza'' and '' Monte Salza''.

The western face of Mongioia, facing the ''Vallon de Rubren'', consists in sloping block fields, while the other faces of the mountain are steeper and rocky.

SOIUSA classification

According to SOIUSA (''International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps'') the mountain can be classified in the following way:
* main part = Western Alps
* major sector = South Western Alps
* section = Cottian Alps
* subsection = Southern Cottian Alps
* supergroup = Chambeyron group in the broad sense
* group = Mongioia group
* subgroup = Costiera del Mongioia
* code = I/A-4.I-A.3.a

History

Mount ''Riouburent'' was considered by William Mathews the highest peak of Maritime Alps, but in his view the ridge ended north of Mongioia and not at Colle della Maddalena.W. Mathews, ''Explorations round the foot of Monte Viso'' e ''Ascent of Monte Viso'', in ''Peaks, Passes and Glaciers'', Second Series, Vol. II, London 1862;
see Google Books
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The first known attempt to climb the mountain was of the French militar topographer Loreilhe in 1823, but he didn't reach the summit., Pierre-Martin Charpenel, ''Les débuts de l'alpinisme en Ubaye'', in ''Chroniques de Haute-Provence, Bulletin de la Société scientifique et littéraire des Alpes-de-Haute-Provence'', n° 293, 1982, p. 79 A second documented climb by François Arnaud (and the first with a detailed report) took place in 1875, and also turned unsuccessful. The summit of Mongioia was reached for the first time on the 20th of July 1878 by Paul Agnel and Joseph Risoul.

Access to the summit

From the Italian side the Mongioia can be reached starting from the village of ''Sant'Anna'' (1,850 m, Comune of Bellino). Up to the ''Bivacco Franco Boerio'' (a wooden mountain shelter built in 1991, 3,089 m) one must follow marked footpaths. From there on some passage tracks, with an easy climb passage, allow to reach the metallic cross and the trig point on the summit (way up: 4-4.30 hours from Sant'Anna)., G. Berutto, ''Monviso e le sue valli - Vol. 1, II edizione'', Istituto Geografico Centrale, 1996

Another route reaches the Mongioia lake through the ''Vallon du Loup'' and the ''Passo di Salza''.

References

Maps

* Italian official cartography (''Istituto Geografico Militare'' - IGM); on-line version
www.pcn.minambiente.it
* French official cartography (''Institut géographique national'' - IGN); on-line version:
www.geoportail.fr
* Istituto Geografico Centrale - Carta dei sentieri e dei rifugi scala 1:50.000 n. 6 ‘’Monviso’’'

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mongioia
Mountains of the Alps
Bric de Rubren
Mountains of Piedmont
Alpine three-thousanders
France–Italy border
International mountains of Europe
Bric de Rubren