(B) MAIN DIVISIONS OF THE ALPS

(g) North Swiss Alps

Attention has already been called to the great line of valley that traverses Switzerland from Martigny to Coire. The range of high peaks lying on the north side of this valley is interrupted at one point only where the Reuss flows through the deep defile of the Devil’s Bridge from Andermatt to Altdorf, and this breach in the continuity of the range has been here regarded as the eastern limit of the Bernese Alps. The range extending eastward from that boundary to the neighborhood of Coire might perhaps be considered as a prolongation of the range of the Bernese Alps; but independently of the inconvenience of assigning such wide boundaries to a single group, there are geologic as well as orographic grounds for preferring to class this along with the dependent ranges lying further north as a separate divisions of the Alps. With regard to the latter ranges, those lying between the valley of the Reuss and Lake of Lucerne, on one side, and the ancient valley of the Rhine, which included the lakes of Wallenstadt and Zurich, on the other, manifestly correspond to the outer ranges of central Switzerland, which we regard as appendages of the Bernese Alps. The case is somewhat different as regards the small detached group culminating in the Hoh Sentis, and lying in the angle between the ancient course of the Rhine and the modern Rhine valley from Sargans to the Lake of Constance. This is so far separated orographically and by geological structure that it might properly rank as a separate division, but it is on the whole more convenient to reckon it as an outlying portion of this group. The Oberalp Pass, a few miles east of Andermatt, forms the watershed between the Reuss and the main branch of the Rhine, and the waters meet again at the confluence with the latter of the united stream of the Aar and the Reuss at Waldshut, so that the entire territory comprehending this divisions of the Alps is enclosed between the two first named rivers.





Chief Peaks of the North Swiss Alps

Crispalt (Piz Giuf)………… 10,164 Karpfstock………………… 9,180
Oberalpstock (Piz Cotschen) 10,925 Saurenstock………………. 10,026
Todi…………………………11,887 Scheibe…………………….. 9,587
Piz Tumbif or Brigelserhorn10,663 Mythen (highest peak)…….. 6,244
Bifertenstock, or Piz Durgin11,237 Glarnisch (highest Peak,
Hausstock………………… 10,355 Bachistock)…………. 9,584
Segneshorn………………. 10,870 Murtschenstock……………. 8,012
Calanda………………….. 9,213 Mageren……………………. 8,294
Bristenstock…………….. 10,089 Churfirsten (highest peak,
Scheerhorn……………… 11,142 Scheibenstoll) ……… 7,554
Claridenstock…………… 10,709 Faulfirst……………………. 7,916
Selbsanft………………… 9,921 Hoh Sentis…………………. 8,215


Chief Passes in the North Swiss Alps

Oberlap Pass (Dissentis to Andermatt), carriage road………… 6,732
Kreuzli Pass (Dissentis to Amsteg), footpath…………………… 7,710
Sand Grat Pass (Dissentis to Stachelberg), glacier…………….. 9,138
Clariden Grat (Amsteg to Stachelberg), glacier……………….. 9,842
Kisten Pass (Ilanz to Stachelberg), snow……………………….. 8,281
Panixer Pass (Ilanz to Elm), bridle-path……………………….. 7,907
Segnes Pass (Reichenau to Elm), snow…………………………. 8,612
Sardona Pass (Elm to Vattis), glacier……………………. about 9,500
Ramin Pass (Elm to Sargans), footpath………………………… 6,772
Klausen Pass (Altdorf to Stchelberg), bridle-path…………….. 6,437
Pragel Pass (Schwyz to Glarus), bridle-path…………………… 5,062
Kamor Pass (Weissbad to Ruti)m bridle-path…………...about 5,300





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