page_title: Alps
section_title: Passes
hierarchical_section_title: Alps / Passes
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Vue sur le versant sud de la commune de Val-Cenis, de Lanslevillard à Bramans, col du Mont-Cenis et son lac au centre
context_page_description: The Alps are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, and stretch approximately 1,200 kilometres across eight Alpine countries: France, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia. The Alpine arch generally extends from Nice on the western Mediterranean to Trieste on the Adriatic and Vienna at the beginning of the Pannonian basin. The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn. Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,809 m is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4,000 metres.
  The altitude and size of the range affects the climate in Europe; in the mountains precipitation levels vary greatly and climatic conditions consist of distinct zones.
context_section_description: The Alps have been crossed for war and commerce, and by pilgrims, students and tourists. Crossing routes by road, train or foot are known as passes, and usually consist of depressions in the mountains in which a valley leads from the plains and hilly pre-mountainous zones. In the medieval period hospices were established by religious orders at the summits of many of the main passes. The most important passes are the Col de l'Iseran (the highest), the Col Agnel, the Brenner Pass, the Mont-Cenis, the Great St. Bernard Pass, the Col de Tende, the Gotthard Pass, the Semmering Pass, the Simplon Pass, and the Stelvio Pass.
  Crossing the Italian-Austrian border, the Brenner Pass separates the Ötztal Alps and Zillertal Alps and has been in use as a trading route since the 14th century. The lowest of the Alpine passes at 985 m (3,232 ft), the Semmering crosses from Lower Austria to Styria; since the 12th century when a hospice was built there, it has seen continuous use. A railroad with a tunnel 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) long was built along the route of the pass in the mid-19th century. With a summit of 2,469 m (8,100 ft), the Great St. Bernard Pass is one of the highest in the Alps, crossing the Italian-Swiss border east of the Pennine Alps along the flanks of Mont Blanc. The pass was used by Napoleon Bonaparte to cross 40,000 troops in 1800.
  The Mont Cenis pass has been a major commercial and military road between Western Europe and Italy. The pass was crossed by many troops on their way to the Italian peninsula. From Constantine I, Pepin the Short and Charlemagne to Henry IV, Napoléon and more recently the German Gebirgsjägers during World War II.
  Now the pass has been supplanted by the Fréjus Highway Tunnel (opened 1980) and Rail Tunnel (opened 1871).
  The Saint Gotthard Pass crosses from Central Switzerland to Ticino; in 1882 the 15-kilometre-long (9.3 mi) Saint Gotthard Railway Tunnel was opened connecting Lucerne in Switzerland, with Milan in Italy. 98 years later followed Gotthard Road Tunnel (16.9 km or 10.5 mi long) connecting the A2 motorway in Göschenen on the German-Swiss side with Airolo on the Italian-Swiss side, exactly like the railway tunnel. On June 1, 2016 the world's longest railway tunnel, the Gotthard Base Tunnel was opened, which connects Erstfeld in canton of Uri with Bodio in canton of Ticino by two single tubes of 57.1 kilometres (35.5 mi). It is the first tunnel that traverses the Alps on a flat route. From December 11, 2016 it is part of the regular railway timetable and be used hourly as standard way to ride between Basel/Lucerne/Zurich and Bellinzona/Lugano/Milano.
  The highest pass in the alps is the col de l'Iseran in Savoy (France) at 2,770 m (9,088 ft), followed by the Stelvio Pass in northern Italy at 2,756 m (9,042 ft); the road was built in the 1820s.
caption: The col du Mont-Cenis (2,081 metres (6,827 ft)) at the centre left of the picture gives access to a large alpine lake, and further away to the Italian peninsula 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) beyond the pass.
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