two small groceries, and a tourist office beside the road. The valley is broad and pastoral here; the eastern side being terraced, the lower hillsides wooded. Above the village to the north rises Six kilometres beyond, and almost 300m higher than Liddes, Bourg-St-Pierre (1632m) is the largest village in the valley proper; an old place crowded just below the main road. This is about as close as you get to a mountaineering centre in Val d’Entremont, although it’s little more than a place from which to set out for one or other of the huts that serve the Combin and Vélan massifs, or to retreat to in order to dry out when the weather turns foul. It’s also used as one of the main starting points for the multi-day Tour des Combins. There’s a long-established alpine garden here, a small supermarket, a few hotels, including the Auberge les Charmettes which has dorm accommodation, and a campsite, Camping du Grand St Bernard. For tourist information go to www.verbier-st-bernard.ch.
Above Bourg to the southeast the Valsorey tributary drains the west flank of the Combin massif and the north side of Mont Vélan, and is the way through which to approach the Cabanes du Vélan and de Valsorey. Leaving Bourg-St-Pierre an underpass sneaks beneath the main road and leads onto a minor road which cuts for a short way into this small tributary valley. After about 45mins you reach the Cordonna chalets at 1834m, and continue above the stream for another hour or so to a fork. The right branch is the one to take for Cabane du Vélan (see below), but by keeping ahead you shortly reach the Chalet d’Amont (2197m) about 2hrs from Bourg-St-Pierre. The view of Mont Vélan is impressive from here. Now the path goes up to the Six Rodzes rock barrier, ascends a gully aided by fixed chains and sections of ladder, then swings round to the east, heading for pastures and a long spur to reach the Cabane de Valsorey at 3030m, about 4–4½hrs after setting out. Owned by the Chaux-de-Fonds section of the SAC, this stone-built hut, with its direct view of Mont Vélan, is used by Haute Route skiers as well as by climbers. It has 60 places and is staffed in the ski-touring season (mid-March to May) and from July until mid-September (www.valsorey.ch).
The ascent of
Southwest of the Valsorey hut Cabane du Vélan (2642m) serves climbers tackling the 3731m Mont Vélan, one of the earliest snow mountains to be climbed. The initial route of approach to the hut is identical with that to Cabane de Valsorey, but when the path forks just below the Chalet d’Amont, you branch right, cross a footbridge over the Valsorey torrent and climb south in a series of zigzags to gain the hut, which is situated below the Tseudet glacier with magnificent views of the Grand Combin in one direction, and the Mont Blanc massif in the other (3hrs from Bourg-St-Pierre). Property of the Genevoise section of the SAC, this modern-looking hut has 60 places and a resident warden usually from mid-March to the end of September, although the hut may not be permanently staffed in June (www.velan.ch).
To the southwest rises the 3202m Petit Vélan, but at the head of the glacier to the south the main block of
COL DU GRAND ST BERNARD: A PLACE IN HISTORY
Reckoned to have been in use since the Bronze Age, the Col du Grand St Bernard is the oldest and best-known of the alpine pass routes. Tradition has it that Hannibal crossed with his elephants in 217BC, and in 57BC Julius Caesar marched with his army across the windblown gap in the mountains to attack Martigny. The emperor Augustus built a road across the pass, and there set up a temple to Jupiter, which was sacked with the fall of Rome.
Its earliest name was Mon Jovis, after the Roman temple, and between the 8th and 15th centuries it was regularly crossed by Rome-bound pilgrims, clerics and medieval emperors. But the pass was (and still is) prone to sudden storms and many travellers perished whilst attempting to cross, so in 1070 Bernard of Menthon, the archdeacon of Aosta, masterminded the construction of a hospice on the summit overlooking a small lake. This became a welcome haven for travellers, with the canons and lay brothers quartered there providing free shelter and food to all who requested it. These same custodians of the pass also rescued countless snowbound travellers, although the first mention of the famous St Bernard dogs was not made until 1708. (Today helicopters and sophisticated search equipment have more or less made the dogs redundant for rescue purposes, although a number have been retained by the hospice.)
During the late 18th century whole armies crossed the pass, the most famous being that of Napoleon who, between 14 and 20 May 1800 led 40,000 troops into Italy to defeat the Austrians at Marengo. Accounts of that crossing describe the future emperor’s descent as a form of glissade: ‘suffering himself, according to the custom of the country, to glide down upon the snow.’ But as a result of the difficulties encountered in manhandling heavy pieces of artillery up to and across the pass, within three months of his victory at Marengo, Napoleon ordered the road across the Simplon from Brig to Domodossola to be made passable for artillery, and this was completed five years later.
As for Bernard of Menthon, he was beatified shortly after his death around 1080, and in 1923 Pope Pius XI confirmed him as the patron saint of the Alps. His statue now gazes out over a wild landscape near the Italian customs post.
The Upper Val d’Entremont
Skirting the Lac de Toules reservoir above Bourg-St-Pierre the main road is protected by a long section of avalanche galleries and a tunnel. At the southern end the old road emerges to a moorland-like
