November 6, 2022

Hike from Les Contamines-Montjoie to Beaufort-sur-Doron through Combe Durand & Col du Sallestet

Last summer, I went on hike in the Beaufortain mountains: I walked from Les Contamines-Montjoie to Beaufort-sur-Doron, passing above Lac de la Girotte.

Here is a map of the path I walked:

In the morning, I first took the train to Saint-Gervais-les-Bains-le-Fayet. I then boarded a Car Région bus (line 84) to Les Contamines-Montjoie. From the terminus, I started walking to the back of Val Montjoie along the Bon Nant river. I boarded a series of cables cars (Télécabine de la Gorge and Télécabine du Signal) in order to get to the start of the trail proper at Le Signal. From there, I passed by Lac de Roselette and reached an area below Aiguille de Roselette.

I then walked down towards La Grande Pierrière, like when I walked around Tête de la Cicle a few years ago. This time, I left it quickly and walked a path to Combe Durand: It was a trail marked on the IGN map but which was not very visible on the ground (actually, not at all at the beginning). To reach the Combe, there was steep passage down. At some point, I arrived at Combe Durand and followed a track road that led to pipes transporting water from Glacier de Tré la Tête to Lac de la Girotte. I forded the river there (Ruisseau d’Entre-Roches) and walked a small trail towards Lac de la Girotte.

I then walked up towards Lac Noir, below Rochers des Enclaves. There was a good view of Lac de la Girotte and the dam on the way. I arrived at Col du Sallestet after a while. In the morning, from the Col, I had planned to pass through Pas d’Outray on the way to Beaufort, but I figured there was not enough time, so I took instead a small trail marked on OpenStreetMap that passed on the other side of Montagne d’Outray (however, when I looked at it later at home, it was actually not much shorter). At some point, there was a steep path to reach a dirt road. I followed it for while, until a smaller trail that went down towards Beaufort. Then, there was a series of trails and passages on paved and dirt roads in order to reach the village in the valley. To get back home, I boarded a summer shuttle (Navette Nature) to Albertville then took a train to Annecy, passing through Chambéry.