Ascent of Dent De Verreu
Yesterday we went for our most demanding walk of the season so far, made all the more exhausting by the scorching temperatures. We climbed the 921m from the pretty hamlet of Le Mont, situated between the villages of Samoëns and Sixt Fer à Cheval, to the peak of the Dent de Verreu at 1901m – 3 hours up followed by a 2 hour descent! The views along the way were the most spectacular that we’ve seen to date.
The walk initially takes you through a beautiful spruce forest before reaching the alpine pastures of Verreu. Along the track you have the most amazing panoramas of Mont Blanc to the south-east with Sixt Fer à Cheval and the magnificent Cascade du Rouget in the foreground, the Giffre Valley with Samoëns, Morillion and Taninges and the Pointe of Marcelly to the west and of course Le Criou with the highland chalets of Trot and Criou clearly visible. Nothing, however, prepares you for the spectacle you encounter when you climb the final few steps to the summit. You have the most amazing view down into the village of Sixt and the Cirque of Fer à Cheval with its numerous waterfalls cascading over the steep sides into the valley below.
At this point you can choose to continue along the ridge for a further one and a quarter hours to the Pointe de Ressassat at 2220m, however, we decided to leave the Pointe for another day and instead stopped for a picnic to soak up the wondrous views before starting our decent.
