Tour of the Pointe du Chardonnet

Their cold clear waters served as a setting for the film "The Big Blue"!

Thanks to a stop near the Lac du Chardonnet, you may be able to see the common hawker flitting about. The exclusively aquatic larva of this dragonfly takes nearly 3 years to reach maturity. It emerges from the water and sheds its skin to become a flying adult whose short life (a few weeks) is devoted to reproduction. With nearly 100 species, France has the greatest wealth of dragonflies in Europe.

Among the birds that inhabit the alpine meadows, the wheatear is recognised in flight by the broad inverted T against a white background which colours the end of the tail. This far from shy insectivore only honours us with its presence in summer before flying back to its grounds in Africa in late summer.

At the Col du Palet, you enter the restricted zone of the Vanoise National Park. Here, the view over the north face of the Grande Casse is impressive with its hanging glacier. Highest point of the Vanoise massif (3,855 m in altitude), this 900 m dark face is comprised of limestone derived from marine deposits. To its left, the summit of Grande-Motte and to its right, the Aiguille de l´Épena.

Lac de Grattaleu is one of the 130 high-altitude lakes of the Vanoise massif. Trapped in the ice for nearly six months per year, only certain invertebrate species survive in these conditions. The lake surroundings are a spectacle of cotton grass. These plants with white bristles form a cottony carpet and although located at 2,500 m in altitude, the mallard ducks enjoy stopping here.

The linaria alpina, a scree plant, “dazzles” you with its violet flowers and orange heart. Its long, hard root allows it to anchor itself in to this unstable environment. The flowers of this honey plant attract honey bees and bumblebees thanks to their rich nectar which accumulates at the bottom of the spur.