Grand Bec refuge loop (From Fontaine Froide)

Back to basics: a warm and friendly, rustic, and peaceful atmosphere. Easy access: breathtaking views of the surrounding valleys, magical sunsets, and a majestic mountain cirque.Accessible to children, parents, grandparents, hikers, and climbers. You can even bring your pet with you to this wonderful setting. Pets are not welcome outside the National Park boundaries. Bivouacs are possible. Note: In June, some streams and/or snowfields can be difficult to cross due to snowmelt. Please contact the warden at the Refuge du Grand Bec beforehand. You can bring your pet to the refuge. Please be careful with the chickens up there—they are very useful to me, friendly but prone to heart attacks. Please keep your dog on a leash if there is a risk that it might chase them.

Located between the village and the alpine pasture, on the sunny side, “les montagnettes” are really small villages temporary inhabited according to the transhumance of humans and animals: Gros Murger, la Rochette, Mollard, Pelapoët, Plan Fournier, Vers le Saut.The term “Montagnettes” indicates a group of houses that is located between the main village and the alpine pasture. It’s a temporary place for the families and the animals. They are occupied during different periods of the year, even when the snow is coming. Humans and animals are going up and down through the year; we are calling it transhumance or “tramoués” in a local dialect. For the families who were living like that, 3 going back and forth guided their trip : - At the end of May, each family were going up to settle in their “montagnette”, until cows were going to the alpine pasture. - Back to the village : field work and making hay - At the “montagnette”: Making hay until cows came down from the alpine pasture. Harvest of hay, and cows eat the second crop (“regain” in local dialect). - At the end of October people and animals were going down to eat the second crop. - In November, people and animals were going up again for 3 months. In February the farmer had to decide when they had to go down at the village. The decision was made according to how much hay they still have at this period. Sometimes they take the decision to go down even with the snow, that it was quite difficult. - In the village, family and animals stayed until the snow melted.