Punta Sulè (in

Piedmontese Piedmontese (; autonym: or , in it, piemontese) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, northwestern region of Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly reg ...

Ponta Solé) is a 3,384 m a.s.l.

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

of the

Graian Alps , it, Alpi Graie , photo = , photo_caption = , country_type = Countries , country = , subdivision1_type = Provinces/Regions , subdivision1 = , parent = Alps , borders_on = ...

, located in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Geography

The mountain is the highest elevation of the ridge between the terminal dales of the Stura di Viù valley, Peraciaval (North) and Malciaussia (South). Going NW the Sulè pass divides Punta Sulè from ''Testa Sulà'' (3,073 m a.s.l.), while going East the ''Colletto della Lera'' (3,320 m a.s.l.) separates it from Monte Lera.Carta

IGM Immunoglobulin M (IgM) is one of several isotypes of antibody (also known as immunoglobulin) that are produced by vertebrates. IgM is the largest antibody, and it is the first antibody to appear in the response to initial exposure to an antig ...

1:25.000 scale, se
www.pcn.minambiente.it
(access: February 2017) Administratively the mountain belongs to the

Usseglio Usseglio ( pms, Ussèj, frp, Usèi, french: Ussel) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northwest of Turin, on the border with France. It borders with the following munici ...

municipality (''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

''). On the summit a cairn bears a small

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

statue; on another nearby cairn is located a

lightning rod A lightning rod or lightning conductor (British English) is a metal rod mounted on a structure and intended to protect the structure from a lightning strike. If lightning hits the structure, it will preferentially strike the rod and be conducte ...

. In clear days it offers a good view of many important mountains of

Western Alps The Western Alps are the western part of the Alpine Range including the southeastern part of France (e.g. Savoie), the whole of Monaco, the northwestern part of Italy (i.e. Piedmont and the Aosta Valley) and the southwestern part of Switzerland ( ...

including Argentera group, Viso,

Dauphiné Alps The Dauphiné Alps (french: Alpes du Dauphiné) are a group of mountain ranges in Southeastern France, west of the main chain of the Alps. Mountain ranges within the Dauphiné Alps include the Massif des Écrins in Écrins National Park, Belledon ...

Bianco Bianco is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Reggio Calabria, in southern Italy. It is a seaside town and a popular tourist resort. The main attractions are the remainings of an old abbey and the ruins of a Roman house. See also *Calabri ...

Gran Paradiso , photo = Gran_Paradiso.jpg , photo_caption = The Gran Paradiso , elevation_m = 4061 , elevation_ref =Geoportale IGM owww.pcn.minambiente.it/ref> , prominence_m = 1879 , prominence_ref = , range = Graian Alps , parent_peak = , listing ...

and

Rosa Rosa or De Rosa may refer to: People *Rosa (given name) * Rosa (surname) * Santa Rosa (female given name from Latin-a latinized variant of Rose) Places * 223 Rosa, an asteroid *Rosa, Alabama, a town, United States * Rosa, Germany, in Thuringia, ...

SOIUSA classification

According to 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'') the mountain can be classified in the following way: * main part =

* major sector = North Western Alps * section =

Graian Alps , it, Alpi Graie , photo = , photo_caption = , country_type = Countries , country = , subdivision1_type = Provinces/Regions , subdivision1 = , parent = Alps , borders_on = ...

* subsection = South-Eastern Graian Alps * supergroup = Catena Arnas-Ciamarella * group = Gruppo Autaret-Ovarda * subgroup = Cresta Autaret-Lera-Arnas * code = I/B-7.I-B.4.a

History

The first recorded ascent to Punta Sulè was carried out by Filippo Vallino on August 16, 1880.

Access to the summit

The usual route to Punta Sulè starts from

lago di Malciaussia Lago di Malciaussia is a reservoir situated at an elevation of 1,805 metres in the upper Valle di Viù in the north-west Italian province of Turin. History The reservoir was constructed in the 1920s and 1930s by damming the Stura di Viù, a ...

and, after Pian Sulè, reaches the summit following the SW ridge of the mountain. While long (around 1,600 metres of vertical drop) this route does not require alpinistic skills but just

scrambling Scrambling is a mountaineering term for ascending steep terrain using one's hands to assist in holds and balance.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. It is also used to describe terrain that falls between hiking and rock climbing (as a “scrambl ...

. In the Italian scale of

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 ...

difficulty is rated ''EE'' (''Escursionisti Esperti'', namely suitable for expert hikers). Traverse from Punta Sulè to Monte Lera is considered an alpinistic route, evaluated of ''PD''

grade Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also ref ...

References

Maps

Istituto Geografico Militare The ''Istituto Geografico Militare'' (IGM), or Military Geographic Institute, is an Italian public organization, dependent on the Italian Army general staff (''Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito''). It is the national mapping agency for Italy. Overvie ...

(IGM) official maps of Italy, 1:25.000 and 1:100.000 scale
on-line version
*

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 ...

(IGC) - Carta dei sentieri e dei rifugi scala 1:50.000 n. 2 ''Valli di Lanzo e Moncenisio'' * Istituto Geografico Centrale - Carta dei sentieri e dei rifugi scala 1:25.000 n.110 ''Alte Valli di Lanzo (Rocciamelone - Uja di Ciamarella - Le Levanne)'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Sulè, Punta Alpine three-thousanders Mountains of the Graian Alps Mountains of Piedmont