Monte della Guardia

The Monte della Guardia is a mountain in Piedmont, northern Italy, part of the Alps. At an altitude of 1,658 metres is one of the highest summits of the Ligurian Prealps.

Monte della Guardia
View from Forte Pozzanghi (Colle di Nava)
Highest point
Elevation1,658 m (5,440 ft)
Prominence88 [1]
Coordinates44°07′19″N 7°55′47″E 
Naming
English translationMountain of the guard
Language of nameItalian
Geography
Monte della Guardia
Location in the Alps
LocationPiedmont, Italy
Parent rangeLigurian Alps
Geology
Age of rockTriassic
Mountain typelimestone
Climbing
First ascentancestral
Easiest routehike from Colle di Caprauna

Geography
Summit cairn.

The mountain stands on the main chain of the Alps between Tanaro and Arroscia valleys. It belongs to the province of Cuneo, in Piedmont, and is located on the border between the municipalities of Ormea and Caprauna, not faraway from Liguria.[2]

SOIUSA classification

According to the SOIUSA (International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps) the mountain can be classified in the following way:[3]

  • main part = Western Alps
  • major sector = South Western Alps
  • section = Ligurian Alps
  • subsection = Prealpi Liguri
  • supergroup = Catena Settepani-Carmo-Armetta
  • group = Gruppo Galero-Armetta
  • subgroup = Costiera Galero-Armetta
  • code = I/A-1.I-A.3.a

Geology
Summit cross

The area of Monte della Guardia is characterized by triassic limestone.[4] Towards monte Armetta, on the slopes facing the Tanaro valley, stands a large cave known as Grotta dei Dighè[5] or Garb del Dighea. It was surveyed at the end of the 19th century by entomologysts that detected an interesting troglofauna with Plectogona sanfilippoi, subsp. Digheae, an arthropod endemic of Tanaro valley.[6][4]

Environment

The northern side of the mountain fells with overhanging cliffs towards the valley of Tanaro river, while its gentler southern slopes are mainly covered of woods.

Access to the summit

The summit can be easily reached with a short diversion from the Alta Via dei Monti Liguri, a long-distance trail from Ventimiglia (province of Imperia) to Bolano (province of La Spezia) which flancks the mountain on its Ligurian Sea side.[7] In wintertime the northern slopes of Monte della Guardia offer some interesting icefalls.[8]

gollark: *Potentially*, you might through sheer coincidence end up "seeing" me due to there randomly being photons of the right wavelength/direction/whatever.
gollark: Actually, that's not known.
gollark: Computers randomly malfunction to make it appear that I exist.
gollark: Yes.
gollark: WRONG! I am a probabilistic anomaly.

References
  1. Key Col: Colla Bassa, 1570 m
  2. 1:25.000 map of Istituto Geografico Militare (IGM), on-line on www.pcn.minambiente.it
  3. Marazzi, Sergio (2005). Atlante Orografico delle Alpi. SOIUSA (in Italian). Priuli & Verlucca. ISBN 978-88-8068-273-8.
  4. Bollettino del Club alpino italiano (in Italian). 1900. p. 86. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
  5. AA.VV. (1927). Le grotte d'Italia organo ufficiale dell'azienda autonoma di Stato delle R. Grotte demaniali di Postumia (in Italian). Mondaini. p. 116. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  6. "Colle di Caprauna - Monte Armetta" (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  7. "Monte della Guardia (m. 1654), Monte Armetta (m. 1739), M. Dubasso (m. 1538) da Caprauna" (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  8. Sertori, Mario (2004). "Valle Tanaro". Cascatea (in Italian). BLU Edizioni. p. 69. Retrieved 2019-06-04.

Media related to Monte della Guardia at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.