Hike to Col de la Botte, Col du Fer & Col de l'Épine
Last summer, I went on a hike in Le Bouchet-Mont-Charvin near Thônes, walking through 3 passes there: Col de la Botte, Col du Fer and Col de l’Épine.
savoie
Hike to Belvédère de Merdassier & Pointe de Merdassier
Last summer, starting from La Clusaz, I went on a hike to Belvédère de Merdassier and Pointe de Merdassier, above Col des Aravis.
Map of hikes around Annecy featured on the blog
Here is a map of all the hike reports around Annecy featured on this blog:
There are also some simple city walks and a few bike routes. It is possible to click on the marker and a link to the corresponding blog page will be shown on the left. In the future, I will try to add hikes to it whenever I make a new post. I have also added a link on the right side of the blog.
For convenience, here is a KML with all the hikes that can be opened in Google Earth.
I know the map looks quite messy but my former blog provider (Wordpress.com) only allowed Google Maps to be embedded so I went with Google My Maps originally. I made a new version recently but I haven’t had time yet to make it better.
Hike to Mont Margeriaz
In the summer of 2020, I went on a hike to Mont Margeriaz in the Bauges mountains, taking the path through Golet de l’Agneau from La Féclaz.
Hike to Col du Joly & Col de Véry: From Les Contamines-Montjoie to Megève
Towards the end of the summer of 2020, I went on a hike in the Beaufortain mountains: I walked from Les Contamines-Montjoie to Megève, passing through Col du Joly and Col de Véry.
Hike to Roc de Nantbellet
Last winter, I went on a hike to Roc de Nantbellet, a mountain above Saint-Ferréol near Faverges.
Hike to Pointe de Bois Brûlé (Semnoz)
Last summer, I went on a hike to Pointe de Bois Brûlé, a little-known viewpoint on the south side of Semnoz.
Hike to Parc du Mouton, Mont d'Orisan & Grand Roc
Last summer, I went on a hike in the Bauges mountains not far from Pointe de la Sambuy: I walked up Parc du Mouton, Mont d’Orisan and Grand Roc.
Vidange du Rhône 2021
A few weeks ago, the Vidange du Rhône (or Chasses du Rhône, meaning Flushing of the Rhône) took place between Barrage de Génissiat (Genissiat Dam) in France and Barrage de Verbois (Verbois Dam) in Geneva. Both the CNR (Compagnie Nationale du Rhône), which manage the dams on the French side, and the SIG (Services Industriels de Genève) cooperate on this operation: It is performed every few years in order to purge sediments brought into the Rhône river by the Arve, which accumulate and increase the risk of floods.
For a few days, the dams in the area are opened and their reservoirs emptied, in order to increase the discharge rate with the goal of flushing the sediments from the river bed. The river then turns gray, just like the Arve. Another side effect is that the level of the Rhône is lowered, almost as low as before dams were built along the river so it becomes quite the view. One other, less happy, consequence is that it is a bit of a fish apocalypse, with many of them dying because of the increase in solids suspended in the water.
I went to see this phenomenon in the area around Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, first in Éloise near Pont de Grésin, as part of a hike. Then a few days later, I visited Bellegarde itself just for this purpose and walked along the Rhône. Because of the the Corona restrictions on border crossings, unfortunately, I couldn’t visit the area upstream of the Verbois Dam in Geneva.
Hike to Mont de Corsuet & Pointe de l'Ardre
In winter 2020, I went on a hike to Mont de Corsuet and Pointe de l’Ardre (a cape on Lac du Bourget). I had already been to Mont de Corsuet, coming from Col de la Chambotte. This time, I started from Grésy-sur-Aix on the east side.