3-512: A col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks; a mountain pass or saddle. COL , CoL or col may also refer to: Col A col in geomorphology is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks . It may also be called a gap or pass . Particularly rugged and forbidding cols in the terrain are usually referred to as notches . They are generally unsuitable as mountain passes , but are occasionally crossed by mule tracks or climbers' routes. Derived from
6-655: The key col ) is effectively a measure of a mountain's topographic prominence . Cols lie on the line of the watershed between two mountains , often on a prominent ridge or arête . For example, the highest col in Austria, the Obere Glocknerscharte ("Upper Glockner Col", 3,766 m (AA) ) lies between the Kleinglockner ( 3,783 m above sea level (AA) ) and Grossglockner ( 3,798 m above sea level (AA) ) mountains, giving
9-461: The French col ("collar, neck") from Latin collum , "neck", the term tends to be associated more with mountain than hill ranges. The distinction with other names for breaks in mountain ridges such as saddle , wind gap or notch is not sharply defined and may vary from place to place. Many double summits are separated by prominent cols. The height of a summit above its highest col (called
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