Val Ferret svizzera — Vallée d’Entremont
Tour du Mont Blanc — Stage 5: La Fouly → Champex-Lac
14.4 km
+506 m
−811 m
6 h
Fitness level
Map & route
GPX track — verify on the ground before hiking
Description
From La Fouly the TMB descends along the Drance de Ferret through the villages of Praz-de-Fort and Issert, between woods and hay meadows, then climbs through forest to Champex-Lac (1,466 m), Switzerland’s “little Canada” set on its alpine lake.
A breather of a stage, perfect for recharging: the walking is downhill or gently rolling along the Drance de Ferret, through the stone-and-timber villages of Praz-de-Fort and Issert, past mown fields, kitchen gardens and the typical Valais granaries perched on stone mushrooms. The only real climb is the final forest pull into the Champex basin, announced by its emerald lake mirroring the Combins. Champex-Lac has every service: shops, hotels, a lake boat and the chairlift to La Breya. Water fountains in every village along the way.
Earth sciences
Geology & landscape
The Mont Blanc massif is a Hercynian granite batholith (~300 million years old) uplifted by the Alpine orogeny: the pale Mont Blanc granite — the “protogine” — forms the Peuterey and Géant spires. At its feet the tour walks on older crystalline basement rocks (gneiss and micaschist) and, in Val Veny, on the Mesozoic limestones of the Pyramides Calcaires, a sliver of sedimentary cover pinched between the granites. The Miage and Brenva moraines are textbook examples.
History & culture
The granaries on stone “mushrooms” at Praz-de-Fort and Issert protected the harvest from rodents: they are among the best-preserved examples of Valais rural architecture.
Water sources
Water at the stage's support points (La Fouly, Champex-Lac). 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
La Fouly
1605 m
Finish
Champex-Lac
1478 m
Adjacent stages
ACurated and verified by Andrea
Data source: Tour du Mont Blanc — itinerario internazionale segnalato · Traccia calcolata su rete sentieri OpenStreetMap (ODbL); verificare sul terreno
Last verified:
Val Ferret svizzera — Vallée d’Entremont
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