Val d’Entremont — Val de Bagnes (Vallese)
Tour des Combins — Stage 4: Cabane de Mille → Cabane Brunet
7.7 km
+217 m
−736 m
3.5 h
Fitness level
Map & route
GPX track — verify on the ground before hiking
Description
From the Cabane de Mille the trail runs high below the Six Blanc crest and tips over into the Val de Bagnes, through pastures dotted with Hérens fighting cows, to the Cabane Brunet (2,103 m), face to face with the Combin glaciers.
A high-level link between the two huts, without big height changes but continuously rewarding: the trail runs along the panoramic line below the Six Blanc crest, the Entremont trench on one side and the Grand Combin ever more imposing on the other. You tip over into the Val de Bagnes through pastures dotted with stone byres and reach the Cabane Brunet, a comfortable road-served base popular with families. The short stage leaves time for the Six Blanc variant (2,445 m, an extra hour): the summit cross gives the tour’s best single view of the massif.
Earth sciences
Geology & landscape
The Grand Combin belongs to the Grand St Bernard nappe (middle Penninic): crystalline schists and gneisses of the Siviez-Mischabel zone, overlain to the south by the calcschists-with-ophiolites of the By valley. The great north wall above the Panossière hut shows the alternation of basement and carbonate cover; the Fenêtre de Durand is carved in the softer calcschists, ever the natural way between Bagnes and Valpelline.
History & culture
The Val de Bagnes is Switzerland’s largest municipality and home of Bagnes cheese, the original raclette: the alps below the Six Blanc still make it with Hérens milk.
Water sources
Water at the stage's support points (Cabane de Mille, Cabane Brunet). On the high ground and at the passes springs are not guaranteed: fill bottles in the valley and at the huts.
Getting there
Cross-border stage: on the foreign sides local public transport applies (PostAuto in Switzerland, line buses in France/Piedmont). Check seasonal timetables; in peak season several access links run by reservation only.
Warnings
- Book overnight stops in peak season
Start & end
Start
Cabane de Mille
2475 m
Finish
Cabane Brunet
2101 m
Adjacent stages
ACurated and verified by Andrea
Data source: Tour des Combins — itinerario ufficiale transfrontaliero · Traccia calcolata su rete sentieri OpenStreetMap (ODbL); verificare sul terreno
Last verified:
Val d’Entremont — Val de Bagnes (Vallese)
Related trails
Same valley or similar routes — more hikes to explore.
Valpelline — Valle del Gran San Bernardo
Tour des Combins — Stage 1: Ollomont → Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses
From the By basin to the Col Champillon, on the Tour des Combins line.
Valle del Gran San Bernardo — Val d’Entremont
Tour des Combins — Stage 2: Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses → Bourg-Saint-Pierre
The Great St Bernard, two thousand years of history on foot.
Val de Bagnes (Vallese)
Tour des Combins — Stage 6: Cabane FXB Panossière → Cabane de Chanrion
The Col des Otanes, the Mauvoisin dam and the mineral realm of Chanrion.
Val de Bagnes — Valpelline
Tour des Combins — Stage 7: Cabane de Chanrion → Ollomont
The Fenêtre de Durand returns to the Aosta Valley and closes the loop.