Mountain Sunset Dents du Midi

A romantic couple enjoy the beautiful summer sunset glow on the peaks of the Dents du Midi near Leysin in the Swiss Alps.... more

by Elaine Jones

Title

Mountain Sunset Dents du Midi

Artist

Elaine Jones

Medium

Painting - Oil (dry Brush Oil)

Description

A romantic couple enjoy the beautiful summer sunset glow on the peaks of the Dents du Midi near Leysin in the Swiss Alps.

The Dents du Midi (meaning "teeth of noon" or "teeth of the South" in French) are a multi-summited mountain situated in the Chablais Alps in the Swiss canton of Valais. Visible from most of western Switzerland, they are made up of seven distinct summits and reach a height of 3257 metres (10,686 feet). Dominating the Val-d'Illiez and the Rhône Valley, to the south it faces the Lac de Salanfe, an artificial reservoir. Geologically it makes up a part of the massif Haut-Giffre.

The name "Dents du Midi" is of relatively recent origin. The native inhabitants originally called them the "Teeth of Tsallen". The present Haute Cime was then called Dent du Midi, and it eventually gave its name to the entire mountain.[7]

Each peak, or "tooth", has had several names over the centuries:

La Cime de l'Est (Summit of the East) was called Mont de Novierre before approximately the seventeenth century, then Mont Saint Michel after the landslides of 1635 and 1636, and finally Dent Noire (Black Tooth) till the 19th century.

Dent Jaune (The Yellow Tooth) was called the Dent Rouge (Red Tooth) until 1879.

Les Doigts (The Fingers) were called Le Doigt de Champéry (The Finger of Champéry, 1882) then Le Doigt de Salanfe (The Finger of Salanfe, 1886) before finally just Les Doigts.

La Haute Cime (The High Summit) also had several names: Dent de l’Ouest (Tooth of the West, 1784), Dent du Midi (Tooth of the South), Dent de Tsallen (Tooth of Tsallen), and Dent de Challent (Tooth of Challent).

Uploaded

September 13th, 2015