The Mont Froid is a 2,822 m high mountain of the northern

Cottian Alps The Cottian Alps (; french: Alpes Cottiennes ; it, Alpi Cozie ) are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between France (Hautes-Alpes and Savoie) and Italy (Piedmont). The Fréjus Road Tunnel and Fréjus Rai ...

Geography

The mountain is located in the French departement of

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population of ...

(

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (ARA; ; frp, Ôvèrgne-Rôno-Ârpes; oc, Auvèrnhe Ròse Aups; it, Alvernia-Rodano-Alpi) is a region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Au ...

), near the Italian border. It lies close to the

main chain of the Alps The main chain of the Alps, also called the Alpine divide is the central line of mountains that forms the drainage divide of the range. Main chains of mountain ranges are traditionally designated in this way, and generally include the highest p ...

, to which is connected by a brief ridge starting fom a 2,719 metres high minor summit. From there the main ridge follows eastwards with the Col de Sollières (2,639 m) and Signal du Petit Mont-Cenis, while southwards it continues with Col de Bellecombe (2,475 m) and

Pointe de Bellecombe The Pointe de Bellecombe is a 2,775 m high mountain of the northern Cottian Alps. Geography The mountain is located in the French departement of Savoie (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes), near the Italian border. It belongs to the main chain of the Alp ...

. The Mont Froid, according to the French Alps classification, is part of the

Massif des Cerces The massif des Cerces is a region of the French Alps on the Franco-Italian border. On the French side it lies in the departements of Hautes-Alpes and Savoie. The massif consists of smaller mountain chains including Mont Thabor as well as those of ...

, while for the

SOIUSA Alps by SOIUSA. SOIUSA (an acronym for - English: ''International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps-ISMSA'') is a proposal for a new classification system of the Alps from the geographic and toponomastic point of view. It was designe ...

(''International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps'') it belongs to the Northern

Geology

The Mont Froid is mainly made of blackish

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...

s with an underlying basement of

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...

History

On the mountain, which thanks to its locations can control a large part of the

Moncenisio Mont Cenis ( it, Moncenisio) is a massif (el. 3,612 m / 11,850 ft at Pointe de Ronce) and a pass (el. 2,085 m / 6,840 ft) in Savoie (France), which forms the limit between the Cottian and Graian Alps. Route The term "Mont Cenis" cou ...

plateau and

Maurienne Maurienne ( frp, Môrièna) is one of the provinces of France, provinces of Savoy, corresponding to the arrondissement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in France. It is also the original name of the capital of the province, now Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. ...

valley floor, was built at the end of the

XIX century The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium. The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolish ...

a large fortress (''Ouvrage du Mont-Froid''). The area was later included in the ligne Maginot fortifications, and during the

II World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

saw some fights facing the ''chasseurs alpins'' (

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

) and the German mountain troops. Nowadays Mont Froid is still used by the

for

military exercise A military exercise or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat. This also serves the purpose of ensuring the com ...

, mainly in winter, in order to train mountain troops to high-mountain survival techniques.

Access to the summit

The summit can be reached on foot starting from the

refuge du Petit Mont Cenis Refuge is a place or state of safety. It may also refer to a more specific meaning: Safety * Area of refuge, a location in a building that may be used by occupants in the event of a fire * Bunker, a defensive fortification designed to protect p ...

. The itinerary doesn't require alpinistic skills but some

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

experience and is quite popular among hikers also because its historical interest. The ascent to Mont Froid can be easily combined with the neioghbouring

Mountain huts

* Refuge du Petit Mont Cenis (2.110 m).

References

Bibliography

* *

Maps

* French official cartography (''

Institut géographique national An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

'' - IGN); on-line version
www.geoportail.fr
*

Istituto Geografico Centrale The Istituto Geografico Centrale (IGC, in English ‘’Central Geographic Institute’’) is a privately owned Italian company based in Turin (Piedmont), known for its guide books and hiking maps mainly concerning the Western Alps and their cont ...

- ''Carta dei sentieri e dei rifugi'' 1:50.000 nr 2 ''Valli di Lanzo e Moncenisio'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Froid Mountains of the Alps Two-thousanders of France Mountains of Savoie