The Schesaplana is the highest

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 ...

in the

Rätikon The Rätikon is a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps, located at the border between Vorarlberg, Liechtenstein and Graubünden. It is the geological border between the Eastern and Western Alps and stretches from the Montafon as far as ...

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

at the border between

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label= Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and Graubünden, Switzerland. It has an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of . On the north side of the Schesaplana is a

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

called '' Brandner Gletscher''. To the east is the Lünersee. It is possible to reach the summit on various routes during a hike, making it useful for a multiday trek between the mountain huts in the area. A more horizontal trek is following the whole of the Rätikon chain along its southern face, called "

Prättigau The Prättigau, in the canton of Graubünden (Grisons), Switzerland, is the geographical region consisting of the main valley of the river Landquart and the valleys of its side-rivers and creeks. Landquart River, which drains into the Alpine Rhi ...

er Höhenweg". File:360° vom Schesaplana-Massiv.jpg, Panoramic view over the massif of the Schesaplana

In literature

The Schesaplana is one of two mountains named in

Johanna Spyri Louise Spyri (; ; 12 June 1827 – 7 July 1901) was a Swiss author of novels, notably children's stories, and is best known for her book '' Heidi''. Born in Hirzel, a rural area in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland, as a child she spent se ...

's 1881 novel ''

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' (german: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre) and ''Heidi: How She Use ...

''. The title character describes them to her grandfather after having seen them both from the meadow where the goats are taken daily to graze, and he tells her their names. The other mountain is the

Falknis The Falknis is a mountain in the Rätikon range of the Alps, located on the border between Liechtenstein and Switzerland. It is 8406 ft. (2562 m) at its highest peak. The nearest locality is Balzers. In literature The Falknis is o ...

, some 11 km away to the west.

Paleontology

Between 1976 and 1990 a team of scientists mapping the Kössen Formation of Canton Grisons excavated a series of fossil remains on the Schesaplana's southern slope. In April 2022 researchers announced that the fragments represent three

ichthyosaurs Ichthyosaurs (Ancient Greek for "fish lizard" – and ) are large extinct marine reptiles. Ichthyosaurs belong to the order known as Ichthyosauria or Ichthyopterygia ('fish flippers' – a designation introduced by Sir Richard Owen in 1842, alt ...

. The discovery also included the largest ichthyosaur tooth ever found.

References

External links

Schesaplana on Summitpost
Mountains of Vorarlberg Mountains of Graubünden Mountains of the Alps Austria–Switzerland border International mountains of Europe Mountains of Switzerland Two-thousanders of Switzerland Seewis im Prättigau {{Graubünden-mountain-stub

In literature

Paleontology

See also

References

External links