On Wed, May 1, 2019 at 8:52 AM Paul Allen <pla16...@gmail.com> wrote: > There is a reason it's called a saddle. It's because it's shaped like one. > It is a low point between > two high points but it is also a high point between the lower area > encompassing the high points. > > Mathematics uses a similar definition, and the diagram on the WIkipedia page > may be helpful > in visualising what is meant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddle_point > > For the technical definition of landform saddles, see > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddle_(landform)
Not all gaps are saddles in that not all of them are higher on both sides (consider a plateau ringed by mountains, with a valley exiting one side. There's a clear gap between the mountains, but a continuous descent in the valley floor). https://kbk.is-a-geek.net/catskills/test4.html?la=42.1230&lo=-74.0679&z=14 - Platte Clove (the canyon, not the settlement) is definitely a gap in the Catskill Escarpment, but the saddle point is some distance to the west, near Prediger Road. https://kbk.is-a-geek.net/catskills/test4.html?la=42.1766&lo=-74.0478&z=14 is somewhat more extreme - Kaaterskill Clove is clearly a gap in the range, but the saddle is west of Haines Falls. The reason these gaps aren't saddles is that the valley on one side of the escarpment is 600 metres higher than on the other, with the peaks another 600 metres above that, so that there's a clear mountain range being split but no climb into the gap from the high side. The higher gaps in the Escarpment don't have this issue because they're above that valley floor - Windham Pass https://kbk.is-a-geek.net/catskills/test4.html?la=42.3348&lo=-74.1627&z=15 or Dutcher Notch https://kbk.is-a-geek.net/catskills/test4.html?la=42.2487&lo=-74.0754&z=15 have well-defined saddles. Because of the plethora of nearly-interchangeable terms used in my part of the world (pass, gap, water gap [a gap with a stream or river running through it], wind gap [a gap without a stream or river], saddle, notch, clove), mountaineers around me pretty consistently use 'col' for the saddle point (and, by extension, the relatively flat area surrounding it) between two peaks. "There's a nice campsite in Jimmy Dolan Notch, the col between Indian Head and Twin Mountain" "To descend to the Neversink River, follow the ridge west from Rocky Mountain until you get to the col, and then explore to the north for a drainage that starts near it." _______________________________________________ Tagging mailing list Tagging@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
