Western Alps
The Eastern Alps belong to the part of the Alps west of the imaginary line from Lake Constance, along the Rhine over the Splügen Pass to Lake Como. Within them lies a series of crystalline central massifs, including:
Grandes Rousses, Mercantour, Mont Blanc, Pelvoux, Belledonne, Aar and Gotthard massifs.
These are then divided by valleys and by a gneiss zone to the south, which includes the Maritime, Cottian, Graian, Valais and Ticino Alps, and a limestone zone to the north and west, including the Provençal Pre-Alps, Bernese, Glarner, Dauphinéer and Savoy Alps fall, separated.
Countries in which parts of the Western Alps are located:
France, highest mountain is Mont Blanc
Italy, the highest mountain is also Mont Blanc, but not the actual summit region that belongs to France
Switzerland, the highest mountain is the Dufourspitze in the Monte Rosa floor of the Valais Alps
The Eastern Alps belong to the part of the Alps west of the imaginary line from Lake Constance, along the Rhine over the Splügen Pass to Lake Como. Within them lies a series of crystalline central massifs, including:
Grandes Rousses, Mercantour, Mont Blanc, Pelvoux, Belledonne, Aar and Gotthard massifs.
These are then divided by valleys and by a gneiss zone to the south, which includes the Maritime, Cottian, Graian, Valais and Ticino Alps, and a limestone zone to the north and west, including the Provençal Pre-Alps, Bernese, Glarner, Dauphinéer and Savoy Alps fall, separated.
Countries in which parts of the Western Alps are located: