The Alps
The Alps are the largest mountain range entirely within Europe, stretching for around 1,200 km in a great arc through eight countries. They are the home of Mont Blanc (Europe's highest peak outside Russia), the Matterhorn, the Eiger and the Jungfrau. The Alps are also the busiest mountain range in the world for skiing, with hundreds of resorts and millions of visitors every winter.
- Lengthapprox. 1,200 kmIn a great arc across central Europe
- Countries8France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Liechtenstein, Monaco
- Highest peakMont Blanc4,808 m, France/Italy
- Ageapprox. 30 million yearsYounger than most mountain ranges
- GlaciersAround 1,800Many shrinking fast due to climate change
- Ski resortsOver 600The busiest mountain sports area on Earth
The Alps among the world's ranges
The Alps are much shorter than the great American and Asian ranges, but they are far better known to most Europeans and have shaped European history for thousands of years.
What are the Alps?
The Alps are a sweeping arc of mountains across central Europe, running roughly from the Mediterranean coast near Nice in the southwest up through Switzerland and into Slovenia in the east. They form the backbone of central Europe, separating the Mediterranean region to the south from the broader European plain to the north. The Alps are mostly above 1,500 metres, with over 80 peaks above 4,000 metres. Mont Blanc on the French-Italian border is the highest at 4,808 m.
How were they made?
The Alps were created over the last 30 million years by the collision of the African tectonic plate with the Eurasian plate. The collision is still happening; the Alps are still rising, although erosion is keeping pace with the uplift. The geology of the Alps is famously complex, with many different rock types that have been folded, pushed sideways, and stacked on top of each other. The classic study of mountain-building geology started in the Alps and many geological terms (such as "nappes", giant overlying rock sheets) were first defined here.
The Alps in history
The Alps have been an obstacle, a refuge and a route through European history. Hannibal famously crossed them with elephants to attack Rome in 218 BC. The Roman Empire built proper roads across several major Alpine passes to link Italy with northern Europe. Medieval kings, pilgrims, traders, smugglers and conquerors have all crossed the Alps over the centuries. During World War I, the Italian-Austrian front ran across the Alps at altitudes above 3,000 metres, in some of the most extreme mountain warfare ever fought. Today the Alps are crossed by major rail tunnels (such as the 57 km Gotthard Base Tunnel, the longest railway tunnel in the world).
Skiing and tourism
The Alps are by far the busiest mountain range for winter sports. There are more than 600 ski resorts across the eight Alpine countries, attracting tens of millions of visitors every year. The biggest resorts (Chamonix, Zermatt, St Anton, Cortina, Verbier, Val d'Isère, the Three Valleys, the Sella Ronda) host millions of skiers each season. Climate change is now a serious threat to Alpine skiing: snow is becoming less reliable at lower altitudes, and lower-altitude resorts may not survive the coming decades.
Deeper dive: Alpine geology, glacier retreat and Alpine culture
The Alps formed by the slow collision of the African plate with the Eurasian plate, which began around 100 million years ago. The collision involved the closing of an ocean called the Tethys, which once separated the two continents. As the Tethys closed, its seafloor sediments were scraped up and shoved over the European continental margin, then folded into vast stacks of "nappes" (huge overlapping sheets of rock). The Alps are unusual in that much of the rock you see in the high peaks was once seafloor: marine fossils are common at the top of Alpine peaks. The fundamental insight of "Alpine geology" was the recognition in the late 1800s that rocks at the top of the range were younger and from different origins than the rocks beneath, evidence of dramatic horizontal stacking.
Alpine glaciers are shrinking rapidly under modern climate change. The total volume of Alpine glacier ice has halved since 1900, and the melt is accelerating. Some smaller glaciers have already disappeared entirely. The famous Mer de Glace above Chamonix has retreated by around 2 km since 1870 and shortens by tens of metres every year. The Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland (the longest in the Alps) has lost approx. 3 km of length since 1870 and is shrinking at approx. 50 metres per year. Scientists estimate the Alps could lose 80 to 90% of their remaining glacier volume by 2100 if warming continues at present rates, with major consequences for the rivers that depend on glacier meltwater in summer (including the Rhine, the Rhone and the Po).
The Alpine region has its own rich culture, mixed across many languages and countries. The traditional architecture of wooden chalets with steep snow-shedding roofs and overhanging eaves is common across the Alps. Alpine cuisine features cheese (fondue, raclette, alpkäse), cured meats (speck, bresaola), and high-fat winter dishes designed for cold mountain weather. Alpine music includes yodelling (originally a way of communicating across valleys), the giant alphorn (originally used by herders to call their cattle home), and traditional festivals like the descent of the cows from high pastures to the valley in autumn (the "Alpabzug" in German-speaking areas). The Alps have inspired writers and artists for centuries, from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to Heidi to The Sound of Music.
The highest Alpine peak is Mont Blanc. The most famous shape in the Alps is the Matterhorn.