Col de l'Échelle (el. 1762 m., in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

''Colle della Scala'') is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

in the department of

Hautes-Alpes Hautes-Alpes (; ; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of Southeastern France. It is located in the heart of the French Alps, after which it is named. Hautes-Alpes had a population ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It is the lower mountain pass between France and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and connects

Vallée de la Clarée Vallée is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: *André Vallée (1930–2015), Canadian Roman Catholic bishop *Anne Vallée (born 1958), Canadian biologist *Bernard Vallée (1945–2021), French fencer * Brigitte Vallée (born ...

and Vallée Étroite ( commune of

Névache Névache (; ) is a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in southeastern France. Geography It is situated in the Vallée de la Clarée. Climate Névache has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification ''Dfb''). The average a ...

Dora Riparia The Dora Riparia (; ; or ''Doire''; ) is an alpine river, a left-bank tributary of the Po. It is long (of which 5 km is in France), with a drainage basin. It originates in the Cottian Alps, close to the Col de Montgenèvre in France, wh ...

basin). The highest point between both valleys is actually at 1779 meter, some kilometers north of the official ''Col de l'Échelle'' at the ''Mauvais Pas''. Between both cols, a small dry valley exists. The col is next to

Bardonecchia Bardonecchia (; ; , ) is an Italian town and ''comune'' located in the Metropolitan City of Turin, in the Piedmont region, in the western part of Susa Valley. It grew out of a small village with the works for the Fréjus Rail Tunnel, the first c ...

in Italy. In April 2018, over 100 activists of the " Identitarian" nationalist movement occupied the pass to campaign against migrants crossing from Italy to France. In August 2019, a French court sentenced three of them to a six-month jail term and fines of €2,000 each, and fined the pan-European organisation €75,000 because they deliberately led immigrants to believe they were police officers.

References

Mountain passes of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Mountain passes of the Alps Landforms of Hautes-Alpes Transport in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur {{HautesAlpes-geo-stub

See also

References