Valleys of the Western Alps

This group collects the former Valleys of the Alps and Central Europe group's members lying in the western ranges of the Alps: the French Alps of Savoie, Haute-Savoie and the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, the Aosta Valley of northwestern Italy, and the Piedmont region's Cottian, Graian, Pennine and Lepontine valleys around Turin, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Biella and Vercelli. These valleys share the granitic and metamorphic massifs of the western Alpine arc, running from the Mont Blanc group south toward the Maritime Alps, and are kept apart from the central and eastern ranges because the mountain-building history, drainage pattern and national administration diverge markedly east of the Simplon and Splugen passes.