Dent de Crolles

The Dent de Crolles is a karstic mountain (2,062 m) of the Chartreuse Mountains range, north east of Grenoble, Isère, France. The French word "dent" means tooth and "de Crolles" is derived from the town of Crolles, located next to the mountain. It is easily recognizable from the Isère valley (Grésivaudan) in the Grenoble area. == Cave system==

The réseau de la Dent de Crolles, which lies beneath the summit plateau, is one of the most complex and longest cave systems in Europe, and is considered to be one of the birth places of modern caving. Its first detailed exploration was during World War II by a small team of French cavers which included Pierre Chevalier, Fernand Petzl, and Charles Petit-Didier. Their explorations saw it become the deepest cave in the world at the time with a depth of . The lack of available equipment during the war forced the team to develop their own equipment, leading to technical innovation. The first use of the single rope technique with prusik and mechanical rope-ascenders (Henri Brenot's "monkeys", first used by Chevalier and Brenot in a cave in 1934) can be directly associated with its exploration. Since 1946, the cave has undergone intense and continuous exploration. As of 2023, eighteen separate entrances have been discovered. The highest is the Gouffre Bob Vouay at an altitude of located close to the summit, and the lowest is the main resurgence, the Grotte du Guiers Mort at an altitude of , giving a depth of . It is known to include more than of passages. The cave system is popular for the various through trips that the various entrances allow. ==Gallery==

Image:Biviers.JPG|Dent de Crolles shot from Biviers. Image:Dent_de_Crolles_from_Biviers.jpg|Dent de Crolles taken from Biviers. File:Méandre dans la traversée gouffre Bob Vouay - Grotte Chevalier.jpg|A passage in the Gouffre Bob Vouay - Grotte Chevalier traverse. Image:La Dent de Crolles 2.JPG|The Dent de Crolles taken from the summit of Chamechaude (south-west). File:Carte Dent de Crolles.svg|Map of the Dent de Crolles. File:Entrée du gouffre Bob Vouay.jpg|The entrance of the Bob Vouay pothole, the highest entry of the Dent de Crolles network. Image:Dent de Crolles depuis le col du Coq.JPG|The Dent de Crolles, the col and the habert des Ayes from the col du Coq (south-west). File:La grotte Chevalier vue de l'intérieur.jpg|The Chevalier cave from the inside. Image:Les Lances de Malissard depuis la Dent de Crolles.JPG|From the summit, a panorama of the Chartreuse massif: the Lances de Malissard overhanging the col de Bellefond. Image:Poussez_pas_derriere.jpg|Close up on Dent de Crolles and the Poussez Pas Derrière ascent route. File:Grotte du Guiers Mort.jpg|Entrance to the cave of Guiers Mort, the karst spring of the Dent de Crolles network. File:Coupe de la Dent de Crolles au niveau de la Grotte Chevalier.jpg|Cross section of the Dent de Crolles at the Chevalier cave. File:Puits dans la Dent de Crolles.jpg|Pitch into the Dent de Crolles. File:Le gouffre Bob Vouay.jpg|The Bob Vouay pothole. File:Lapiaz de la Dent de Crolles DSC 0161.jpg|Limestone pavement of la Dent de Crolles. File:Grotte Chevalier.jpg|Entrance to the cave Chevalier. File:Grotte Annette Bouchacourt.jpg|Entrance to the cave Annette. File:Le P 40.jpg|The P40. File:La dent de crolles souterraine.2 (2).jpg| On the cross-section are represented the main crossings: in light green Glaz-Annette, in dark green Glaz-Chevalier, in blue P40-Glaz, in orange Glaz-Guiers Mort, in blue Glaz-Guiers Mort by the river, in yellow Thérése-Guiers, in red Cartusiens-Guiers, in purple Pulpite Irreversible-Glaz. Other crossings can be made: Bob Vouay-Glaz or Guiers but they are not coloured. File:Grottes de la face Est de la dent de Crolles. (2).jpg|Caves of the East face: Grotte Annette, grotte Chevalier, Maxi Méga Marmotte, le Sureau, l'Entrée des Artistes, les Excités, le Balcon, le nid de Choucas, grotte Petzl, la grotte des Montagnards et la grotte du Jibé. File:Grotte Petzl.jpg|Cave Petzl separated by a boulder choke from the network of the Dent de Crolles. File:Entrée du Trou du Glaz.jpg|Entrance of Trou du Glaz. File:Gouffre de la Pulpite.jpg|The pothole of Pulpite. File:Gouffre Thérése.jpg|Therese's cave. ==Bibliography (in French) ==

• La Dent de Crolles et son réseau souterrain, Comité départemental de spéléologie de l'Isère, 1997, : ==Bibliography (in English) ==

• Système de grottes de la Dent de Crolles, France in Encyclopedia of Cave and Karst Science (pp.283-285) of John Gunn : ==References (in French) ==

• Site géologique • Groupe Montagnard des Petites Roches : informations sur le site d'escalade du Luisset. • escalade/ski/randonnée à la Dent de Crolles sur c2c • Nouvelles topos de la dent de Crolles, Spéléo Secours Isère, 4 janvier 2015. ==References==