Monte Spinarda
Monte Spinarda in winter
Highest point
Elevation1,357 m (4,452 ft)[1]
Prominence403 m (1,322 ft)[2]
Isolation8.91 km (5.54 mi) Edit this on Wikidata
Coordinates44°13′39.47″N 08°04′10.52″E / 44.2276306°N 8.0695889°E / 44.2276306; 8.0695889
Geography
Monte Spinarda is located in Alps
Monte Spinarda
Monte Spinarda
Location in the Alps
LocationLiguria/Piemonte, Italy
Parent rangeLigurian Alps
Climbing
First ascentancestral
Easiest routefrom Colle del Quazzo or Calizzano

Monte Spinarda is a 1,357-metre (4,452 ft) mountain of the Ligurian Prealps in Italy.

Geography

The mountain belongs to the Ligurian Alps and is located between the province of Savona (Liguria, south) and the province of Cuneo (Piedmont, north). Monte Spinarda is the tripoint where the Ligurian comune of Calizzano and the Piedmontese ones of Garessio and Priola meet. Is located very close to the drainage divide between Tanaro and Bormida valleys, on the Bormida valley side, a very long ridge which branches from the Main chain of the Alps at Monte Cianea. In the SOIUSA (International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps) Monte Spinarda belongs to the Ligurian Prealps and, within them, to Monte Carmo group and Dorsale Spinarda-Sotta subgroup (SOIUSA code:I/A-1.I-A.2.b).[3]

Geology

The Anfiboliti di monte Spinarda, an outcrop of amphibolites recordered in the Italian official geologic map,[4] was named after the mountain.

History

Summit cross

The area surrounding Monte Spinarda was involved by wartime operations linked to the Italian campaigns of Napoleone Bonaparte and in 1799 the Frenche Army occupied its summit. Nearby, in a place called Vignale, during the 19th century mineralogists found some gold in the form of sulphate.[5]

Access to the summit

The summit of Monte Spinarda can be easily reached on foot by Colle del Quazzo[6] or, with a longer walk, from Calizzano.[7] During snowy winters the summit can also be accessed with snowshoes. The hike is appreciated not only for the good views on the surrounding mountains, but also for its low risk of avalanches.[8]

Conservation

Monte Spinarda slopes are mainly covered with beech woods and shrubs. Its Ligurian side belongs to the SIC (Site of Community Importance) called Monte Spinarda - Rio Nero - code IT1323014.[9]

Maps

References

Media related to Monte Spinarda at Wikimedia Commons

  1. ^ Italian official map 1:25.00 of Istituto Geografico Militare (on-line on www.pcn.minambiente.it)
  2. ^ key col: saddle east of Colle San Bernardo at 954 m
  3. ^ Marazzi, Sergio (2005). Atlante Orografico delle Alpi. SOIUSA (in Italian). Priuli & Verlucca. ISBN 978-88-8068-273-8.
  4. ^ Servizio geologico (1971). Note illustrative della carta geologica d'Italia alla scala 1:100.000 (in Italian). Vol. 92–93. Nuova tecnica grafica. p. 5. Retrieved 2018-02-22.
  5. ^ Casalis, Goffredo (1847). Dizionario geografico-storico-statistico-commerciale degli stati del Redi Sardegna (in Italian). Maspero. p. 755. Retrieved 2018-02-22.
  6. ^ "Spinarda (Monte) dal Colle Case Quazzo e il Bric Meriano" (in Italian). Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  7. ^ "Spinarda (Monte) Traversata ad anello del Monte Spinarda" (in Italian). Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  8. ^ "Spinarda (Monte) da Colle del Quazzo" (in Italian). Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  9. ^ "Monte Spinarda - Rio Nero" (PDF) (in Italian). Regione Liguria. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
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