Fondation Pierre Gianadda - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

Col de la Forclaz is a mountain pass in the Alps in the Canton of Valais in Switzerland. It connects Martigny at 471 m and Le Châtelard. The road from Martigny to the Col has an average gradient of 6% but in parts is closer to 8%. After the Col, and Le Châtelard, the road leads to Chamonix in France via Vallorcine and the Col des Montets. The pass was little known in the 19th century. It was not until the rise in tourism, particularly in Chamonix, that the region became a popular tourist area.

The Col de Balme is a high mountain pass of the Alps, located on the border between Switzerland and France. It connects Trient in the Swiss canton of Valais to Argentière in the French department of Haute-Savoie. The pass lies between the summits of Tête de Balme and Les Grandes Otanes. The Col de Balme lies on the Tour du Mont Blanc walk. A restaurant is located above the summit of the pass.

The Lac d’Emosson reservoir, altitude 1930 metres, was created at the beginning of the 1920s by the construction of a 78 m-high gravity dam built by the SBB with the aim of covering the company’s power requirements. In 1974 this was extended with a 180 m-high arch dam, increasing the lake volume from 40 to 227 million m3 of water. The Lac d’Emosson was created to cover SBB power requirements. The lake is reached by three unusual railways. Dinosaur footprints, some 250 million years old are found

Grand-Muveran is a mountain with a height of 2600 meters over the Rhone valley. The Muverans are the second-highest massif of the canton of Vaud, after the Diablerets.

Val Ferret is the name of the two separate valleys, departing from the Col Ferret on the border between Italy and Switzerland, on the southern and eastern sides of the Mont Blanc Massif. The Swiss valley drains northeastwards towards Orsières and on into the Rhône basin; whereas the Italian valley drains southwestwards towards Courmayeur and on into the Po basin. The two valleys are connected by a mountain footpath through Col Ferret which forms part of the 170 kilometres circular Tour du Mont

The Argentière glacier is located in the Mont Blanc massif. It overlooks the village of Argentière. This glacier covers an area of 19 km² and an altitude range from 1600 m to 3600 m on a North aspect. Satellite images from various years give a birds’ eye view of the great river of ice retreating further into the mountains.