gendarme (mountaineering)

{{Short description|Pinnacle of rock on a mountain ridge}}

{{Other uses|Gendarme (disambiguation){{!}}Gendarme}}

File:Krapf rognon and glacier after snowstorm.jpg (centre of image on skyline) is a gendarme.]]

A gendarme is a pinnacle of rock on a mountain ridge. They are typical of alpine areas. Gendarmes often form on the intersection of two ridges due to the lower erosion of glaciers here.{{cite book

| last=Baker | first = B. H.

| title = Geology of the Mount Kenya area | year=1967

| publisher=Geological Survey of Kenya | location=Nairobi

}} The name originates from the French Alps, where they were seen as resembling the gendarmerie police. {{cite book | title = Three Days of the Condor or Fifty Shades of Dry| author = Randy Lippincott | pages = 154 | publisher = Trafford Publishing | year = 2013 }}{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=January 2018}}