Walking in the Alps. Kev Reynolds

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      Ciamarella looms above the Vallon de la Lenta

      Refuge du Cuchet stands on a small hillside spur high above the valley; an unmanned hut belonging to the PNV, and with good views south across the valley to the Col du Mont Cenis, which is crossed by a road leading into Italy. Far below, in the bed of the valley where the Mont Cenis route breaks away from the main valley road, Lanslebourg-Mont-Cenis is a useful restocking point for long-distance walkers choosing the GR5E variant known as the Sentier du Petit Bonheur, which links a number of fine Haute-Maurienne villages noted for their vernacular architecture. A trail climbs steeply from Lanslebourg to Refuge du Cuchet, nearly 800 metres above the village, while the Chemin de la Ramasse breaks away to the south, climbs to Col du Mont Cenis and makes a circuit of the dammed lake which fills the valley south of the col, and offers further walking possibilities among the frontier mountains.

      Refuge du Vallonbrun, by contrast with the rather exposed position of the Cuchet hut, is snug within a pastoral glen that runs parallel with the Maurienne (though high above it), from which it is hidden by a grassy bluff whose crown reveals the Glacier de l’Arcelle Neuve seen hanging from the face of Signal du Grand Mont Cenis and Pointe de Ronce opposite. A short distance upvalley stands the little Chapelle St-Antoine and a handful of chalets and farms at the hamlet of La Fesse d’en Haut. High above the hamlet Col du Vallonbrun is a climber’s (and ski-mountaineer’s) route over the walling mountains that separate the Maurienne from Vallon de la Rocheure.

      Beside the Chapelle St-Antoine a footpath descends to the Col de la Madeleine, site of a major landslip that once completely blocked the valley of l’Arc midway between Lanslevillard (the next village upstream of Lanslebourg) and Bessans. This is the route chosen by the Tour of the Vanoise. Bessans, a short walk upvalley from Col de la Madeleine, offers accommodation, refreshments and opportunities for reprovisioning. There’s a campsite downstream, and a gîte d’étape about half an hour’s walk upstream at the charming hamlet of Le Villaron, tucked on the right bank of the Arc between the river and the steep forested hillside.

      The south wall of the valley here is cut by two important tributaries, Vallée du Ribon and Vallée d’Avérole. The first is long and straight with a tempting trail that projects far into it for challenging routes by way of the Glacier de Rochemelon into Italy (Rifugio Tazzetti is lodged on the south side of the Col de la Resta), or via Glacier de Derriere le Clapier, a difficult route that leads into a remote upper glen feeding into Vallée d’Avérole. This latter valley is another wild and atmospheric place containing three tiny villages, a CAF hut (Refuge d’Avérole) and some rugged mountain scenery. Only mountain walkers experienced in scrambling, and with essential equipment and knowledge to deal with glacier travel, should attempt to tackle some of the high routes here. But there are some tremendous challenges to be won among these very fine but little-sung mountains, crossing and recrossing the international frontier.

      Back along the Maurienne’s northern wall, a fine combe, or minor glen, is accessible from the small unmanned PNV hut, Refuge du Molard. Through the glen a stream drains the Glacier de Méan Martin, and in early summer the pastures are a-dazzle with countless alpine flowers. Across the mouth of this glen the GR5 invites walkers north-eastward to the charming Vallon de la Lenta, a superb little valley edged by the Iseran road. Happily that road makes little impact on the glen itself for it climbs high above it, leaving the pastures with their huddled chalets, waterfall and clear dancing streams to the natural peace of the mountains. At the upper end of the vallon a narrow rocky gorge has a wild impact, but stand on the rim of this gorge and gaze south and south-east and your heart will be lifted by a truly spectacular view of glacier-clad mountains that create part of the frontier with Italy – the Ciamarella group whose grace of form, and whose elegant waves of snow and ice tilted above dark walls holding shadow, are all a lover of grand mountain scenery could ask for. Between the glen and those mountains, but hidden from sight, lies the much-loved village of Bonneval-sur-Arc.

      Bonneval-sur-Arc

      Bonneval is the finest of all Haute-Maurienne villages, its handsome medieval stone houses huddling one against another as if for mutual protection at the foot of a steeply sloping hillside on the right bank of the Arc. Varnished balconies are bright with geraniums and petunias, СКАЧАТЬ