A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1133 entries
col
A col is the low point on a ridge between two summits, the place where a crossing is possible. It is the same feature as a saddle, a pass, a gap, a notch, or a bealach, and which word gets used depends almost entirely on where you are. In strict terms, a col is the lowest point on the highest connecting ridge between two peaks, which is how a mountain’s prominence gets measured.
Etymology
The word is French for neck, from Latin collum, the same word behind English collar. The body metaphor for this landform is close to universal: English says saddle and shoulder, Spanish uses puerto and collado, German has joch, a yoke, and sattel, and the Scottish bealach means a gap or a breach.
Notes
Prominence, which is how mountaineers decide whether a summit counts as a separate peak, is measured from the summit down to its highest col. Cols are also where weather concentrates, since air moving over a ridge accelerates through the low point, so the pass is reliably the windiest place on the crossing.