UKC

Is there a rule on when to put "the" before the name of a mountain? Everyone says "the Matterhorn" but I don't know of anyone saying "the Mont Blanc". In French it's definitely "le mont Blanc" though. They even seem to say 'le Ben Nevis", which makes me very uncomfortable, even though I normally call it "the Ben".

So should I say "the Dent Blanche", "the Mönch", or "the Gran Paradiso"?

When I climbed in the Alps in the late 60s - early 70s of British climbers typically called Mont Blanc 'The Blonk'. 

IIRC, the normal way British climbers refer to all three of those is with the definite article. cf. The Eiger.

What are the UK ones?

The Skirrid

The Sugar Loaf 

The Wrekin

The Cat's Back

The Black Hill

The Cheviot

The Buachallie

The Cobbler 

...most of them Anglicised nick-names probably.

And to add some west coast; the Aonach Eagach, Am Bodach, the Cuillin, A' Mhaighdean, An Teallach. Reasonably common. I guess there's probably a case for a definitive article more than it is added, if you know what Dent Blanche means, then adding it likely sounds a lot less odd.

There doesn't appear to be a rule: The North Face of the Eiger, The Matterhorn... Everest, K2.

No doubt there are numerous exceptions, but surely the starting point should be that if the mountain name is a normal noun or noun-adjective combination, a definite article prefix wouldn't sound wrong, but for proper nouns it would.

From my copy of "Practical English Usage" (Michael Swan)

"Names of single mountains usually have no article (Everest, Snowdon). But we use the with the names of European mountains if their name has an article in the local language: Das Matterhorn, La Meije. Exception (ain't there always): the is not used before Mont(e): Le Mont Blanc is called Mont Blanc."

Pick the bones outta that!

The Wyddfa?

Shropshire seems quite keen on it. As well as The Wrekin there's The Lawley, The Long Mynd and The Ercall. 

The Peaks?

The Mount Snowdon?

I believe there's one in France called The Vignemale

I have to say, English people who refer to'the Ben' remind me of those who refer to their wives as 'the wife'.

Need to brush up on your Cymraeg it seems… (yr does the same job as the)

Yr Wddfa.   

Precisely my point.  (I was being funny. Ha ahahaaa .. I'll get my coat.)

"But we use 'the' with the names of European mountains if their name has an article in the local language"

Been thinking about this and can't think of many. There is The Schill in the Cheviots and The Calf in the Howgills. Does The Old Man of Coniston count?

That would be ALL Swiss/Austrian/German/Italian mountains with German names, then. I cannot think of a single exception, and would even say "der Everest" in German.

CB

What I really really want to know is this:

Who is this Ben Nevis guy anyway?

Nobody seems to know. He's something to do with clouds, or heaven or hell. Not sure which is true.

Ah the joys of text based communication and the way it reflects the mindset of the reader

When I read the recent thread title "Ben Klibreck from Crask Inn" I honestly assumed it would be asking for info about a former landlord or similar, I'd never heard of the mountain before... 

Do you mean the Ben Nevis or some other bloke of the same name?

Some more UK ones:

The Cairnwell

The Saddle

The Devil's Point

The Inaccessible Pinnacle

anyone mention The Stuic yet ?

The Cheviot 

we apply it to routes too of course:

The Corner

The Gates

The Sloth

any others?

Pick bones outta that!!

As well as those called Mont something, "The" isn't generally used before European mountains which are called Pic or Piz something, presumably because they basically mean the same as Mont.

T'crag