‘This is probably the wildest place in the whole of the Vallée des Belleville,” says Roland, our guide, sweeping one arm across a bank of saw-toothed peaks as though conducting a great, brawny orchestra. My husband, two sons and I are midway through a four-day stretch of the Grand Tour de Tarentaise hiking trail in the French Alps, and we’ve stopped near the top of Varlossière, a roadless side valley among a great arc of mountains that runs to the west of the ski resorts of Val Thorens, Les Menuires and Saint-Martin-de-Belleville. Hiking up here from Gittamelon, a rustic, summer-only mountain refuge in the neighbouring Vallée des Encombres, we’ve paused to exhale breath, and to inhale the primeval views.
We can hear the rushing water below us as high peaks rise either side. Their green sides are highlighted by an elegantly-designed bothy, with its twin shepherd’s hut. Midmorning, but the moon is large and low against a clear sky. This creates an otherworldly setting. As we climb higher, a bald eagle soars past, barely six metres from our eyes. Though we meet three other hikers on the other side of the Col du Bonnet du Prêtre, the 2,461-metre (8,074ft) pass that leads from Varlossière to the Nant Brun valley – and detect from sheep bells that at least two shepherds must be somewhere among the great folds of these hills – it feels as though the landscape is ours alone.
It may not remain that way for much longer. Soaring temperatures across Europe this summer have fuelled a rush to the mountains, social media funnelling many visitors to the same honeypots and creating infrastructure pressure points; in Italy some farmers in the Dolomites have resorted to installing turnstiles and charging tourists €5 to pass, incensed at having their meadows trampled.
It is not easy for Europe’s ski resorts to navigate these challenges, as the climate change crisis indicates that skiing will be around for a shorter time. Many of these summer visitors are newbies, who don’t know the rules of mountain adventure. They may not be aware of how to tread lightly on the environment or respect local codes. In France, the number of calls to mountain rescue services from inexperienced hikers has risen dramatically. workers now trawl social media Looking for possible disaster hotspots early on.
In an attempt to tackle these issues, the Vallée des Belleville tourist office has introduced a range of summer initiatives to support new hikers, from kids’ mountain skills activity days to free wildlife talks and events. It is safer for these groups to reach the mountains and it’s easier for local communities. And while challenging marked trails through more remote corners of the mountains are fairly easy to follow, visitors are encouraged to hire a guide (something we are glad of at Col du Bonnet du Prêtre, when Roland tracks down the shepherd owner of an aggressive dog and persuades him to move away from the trail).
We see the support of new hikers at our mountain refuges each night. Refuge Plan Lombardie is one of the many designed with families and new hikers in mind.
It’s not our first time, but it is good to refresh ourselves on the culture of the refuge and to let the boys play with the other kids. It’s possible to walk in from the parking area, which is about 20 minutes away. This has been done by several guests who have preschoolers, and they were grateful for the sculpture trail that resembles a treasure hunt.
Refuge Plan Lombardie is as busy as a burrow of marmots, despite the fact that we’ve seen fewer than a dozen hikers throughout the day. The deckchairs on the terrace with a view are already taken by those who arrived earlier. We instead collect beers and Lemonades to enjoy on a bench before switching our boots for the borrowed Crocs and finding our assigned bunk beds.
This is more than a place to sleep. These refuges are full of city dwellers who temporarily escape to higher ground. They’re also the human equivalent to a centuries-old transhumance rhythm, in which families would bring their sheep and cattle up to high pastures during the summer. At dinner, we share a table with a mother from Chambéry who has brought her four-year-old son for his first visit to a refuge. “My friend has given me a family-friendly list and I have decided to make it a tradition that we visit one refuge every year. I want him love them as well as I do,” said the woman between bites of Eton mess with Savoyard blueberries.
We shared a dorm with three generations from a Belgian family, who had also been on the same route as us, but were going in the opposite direction. The evening before, we had played cards with other families at Refuge du Lac du Lou – a modern and child-friendly refuge located just 90 minutes above Les Menuires.
Estelle Roy Bergaud, the Les Menuires Tourist Office, had led us on a hike between Lac du Lou, and Gittamelon. Along the way, we saw harebells, cotton grass, neon-coloured-lichens, and to the delight of the boys, thickets with wild blueberries. While eating lunch in front of the Mont Blanc, I ask Estelle Roy-Berthaud how the valley manages its increasing summer numbers.
“Summer Tourism is a fairly new concept in this area, so we do not see the overtourism issues that are experienced by other more popular summer destinations such as the Alps,” says she. We are also protected from overtourism by the fact that we do not have too many accommodation options. We have 27,000 beds in winter but only 8,000 in summer. This naturally limits the number of people who can stay in the valley.
On the trail at Plan Lombardie I awoke in the middle of night to slip out of a bed. Outside, the sky is luminous with stars, while the peaks and folds of the land are now entirely black beyond the winking of a distant light – a shepherd’s stove, perhaps, or the torch of a camper. Belleville Valley still feels wild and untamed tonight.
Transport from London to Chambéry was provided by FlixbusReturn fares The following is a list of the most recent and relevant articles. £89pp. Accommodation at Refuge du Lac du Lou The following is a list of the most recent and relevant articles. €39 children/€69 adultS, Refuge Gittamelon €46ppAnd at Refuge Plan Lombardie The following is a list of the most recent and relevant articles. €32 children and €52 adultS. Hiking guides The following is a list of the most recent and relevant articles. €25 for a half-day (guides-belleville.com). More information about lesmenuires.com
