Monte Colombano (in

Piedmontese Piedmontese ( ; autonym: or ; ) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, a region of Northwest Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regarded as an Italian ...

mont Colombon ) is a mountain in the Alpi di Lanzo, a sub-group of the

Graian Alps The Graian Alps (Latin language, Latin:: ''Alpes Graiæ'' ; ; ) are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps, and the name of an Roman province, Antic Rome province. Etymology The name ''Graie'' comes from the ''Graioceli'' Celts, Celt ...

, with an elevation of 1,658 m.

Geography

The mountain is located between the Val Casternone, the Val di Viù and the

Ceronda The Ceronda () is a long creek in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, region in northwestern Italy. Geography It is formed from several streams that drain the northern slopes of Monte Colombano and converge near Varisella. Flowing from ...

valley and is the

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

in which the communes of

Viù Viù is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northwest of Turin. Viù's central square used to feature a wooden statue of Pinocchio, which is 6.53 meters tall and weighs ab ...

, Varisella and Val della Torre (all in the

Metropolitan City of Turin The Metropolitan City of Turin (; Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ''sità metropolitan-a 'd Turin'') is a Metropolitan cities of Italy, metropolitan city in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Turin. It replaced the prov ...

) meet.

SOIUSA classification

According to the SOIUSA (''International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps'') the mountain can be classified in the following way: * main part =

Western Alps The Western Alps are the western part of the Alps, Alpine Range including the southeastern part of France (e.g. Savoie), the whole of Monaco, the northwestern part of Italy (i.e. Piedmont and the Aosta Valley) and the southwestern part of Switzer ...

* major sector = North Western Alps * section =

* subsection = Southern Graian Alps * supergroup = catena Rocciamelone-Charbonel * group = gruppo del Rocciamelone * subgroup = cresta Lunella-Arpone *

code In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicati ...

= I/B-7.I-A.2.b

Geology

Like others mountains of its area, the monte Colombano too is mainly made of lherzolitic rocks, partially turned into

serpentinite Serpentinite is a metamorphic rock composed predominantly of serpentine group minerals formed by serpentinization of mafic or ultramafic rocks. The ancient origin of the name is uncertain; it may be from the similarity of its texture or color ...

Access to the summit

The easiest route for the summit is a footpath starting from colle Lunella (a mountain pass which connects

and Val della Torre), and follows the SW face of the mountain. The pass can be easily reached from the Colle del Lis. or from Val della Torre, but from the latter starting point the climb is longer. During very

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

y winters, and when the snow cover is stable, the summit can also be accessed with snowshoes.

Maps

* Italian official cartography (''

Istituto Geografico Militare The ''Istituto Geografico Militare'' (IGM), or Military Geographic Institute, is an Italian public organization, dependent on the Italian Army general staff (''Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito''). It is the national mapping agency for Italy.

'' - IGM); on-line version
www.pcn.minambiente.it
* I.G.C. (''Istituto Geografico Centrale''): ''Carta dei sentieri e dei rifugi'' 1:50.000 scale n.2 ''Valli di Lanzo e Moncenisio'' and 1:25.000 scale n.110 ''Basse valli di Lanzo''

Notes

External links

* * ''Monte Colombano'': 360° panoramic image from the summit o
pano.ica-net.it
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colombano Mountains of Piedmont Mountains of the Graian Alps One-thousanders of Italy