La figure paysagère du col de montagne au double prisme des pratiques cyclotouristiques et de trekking : expériences, imaginaires et fonctions symboliques

Abstract

Following a comparative analysis, the article explores the practices and representations associated with mountain pass landscapes among the communities of cyclists and trekkers. Using different survey methods according to the specificities of the field and of the cyclists and trekkers, the authors have combined a qualitative approach (interviews) with a systematised processing of a part of the survey involving a large corpus of basic material in the study composed of cycling accounts provided by two cycling organisations. This interdisciplinary and exploratory study indicates that although the mountain pass landscape seems at first sight to be absent from many of the accounts, the testimonies are permeated with a complex presence. The classical aesthetic preconception of the mountain pass as a place of passive contemplation is challenged by the expression of more extensive and active relationships with it. Far from referring to a stabilised representation of the mountain pass landscape, the article discusses several hypotheses which finally identify multiple practices, perceptions, emotions, and representations associated with the landscape. These bear witness to the polysemy of the very notion of the landscape in its practical and analytical dimensions.

Keywords

• mountain passes
• bicycle touring
• trekking
• representation of sports practices
• landscape representations