Souillets Pram-walk

This is one of the first Alpine mountains tourist accommodation, witness of the tourism beginnings. It can't be visited inside.This refuge testimonies the start of mountain tourism. "La société des Touristes dauphinois" (STD), founded in 1875, born after the schism provoked at that time by the Parisian centralization of "Club Apin Français" (CAF). In fact, some people got opposed the CAF, based in Paris being only responsible for promoting the mountain. So the "STD" was founded with the aim to study exclusively Dauphine Alps, as well for scientific purposes as for touristic ones making excursions accessible for everyone. So guides are recruited, uneasy sections of excursion are equiped, refuges or chalets are built. After some years the STD get 500 members and its action in many similar domains as CAF make it appear as a unique local alpine society fullly developped. From 1879 our community can benefit from a chalet arranged to allow long stay in Taillefer range. At that time, it was less confortable than today. On old pictures, we can see that an outside scale was there to access to first floor. Apart from it, the chalet has been keeping the same shape.

The only worship place that still exists on the pass.This is the only worship place that still exists in our village. The inhabitants have built the chapel in 1658 and named it St Anne. On July 26th, St. Anne's day, La Morte is on a festive mood. The very simple chapel has been reduced from 1.50m, for traffic needs in 1945. The chapel is crowned by a bell: It´s easy to imagine the inhabitants of the city getting together near the chapel, called to pray by the bell sound. They must appreciate the few 10 Masses a year celebrated in this place. The other sundays or holidays, they must go to Lavaldens or Moulin Vieux, one hour walk if the weather is good. Inside, the building is quite sober. The altar is not very much elaborated. Above, St Anne's statue instructing Marie, future Christ's mother. There are also several statues of saints and paintings. This chapel dedicated to St. Anne was a place of pilgrimage, to request either rain or sun, depending on the needs. These pilgrimage could attract to 1000 people from all Matheysine plateau, hiking by Grand Rif track (about 3 hours). Depending on the weather, the Mass could take place near the cross at the end of the hamlet. Then they would eat something before going back 2 hours walking.

Beautiful remain of endemic habitat.Valentine's house (name of the last inhabitant of the house) is the only remaining building that has not been deeply rebuilt. In fact , from the 1860s until the 1914 war, demography has been very strong, thanks to better hygiene and more mixing between valleys. Life expectancy of our people became longer and infant mortality decreased. As a result, they had to extend their cultivated area, to grow their herds and rearrange houses to accomodate people and animals. So all houses were raised with one floor extra. The granary became bedroom and got larger. The room that usued to be an only room for every purpose (kitchen, bedroom, leaving room) didn't exist anymore. Let's have a look on this house. Some experts have given a name to this kind of lying small height houses : vessel farms. Everything has been designed to face long winter months : small openings, minimum windages, and everything on board : food, people and animal to face rude weather. This house actually is 2 houses or rather 2 fires. This is the way the houses were called when 2 families were living there. Each one had its fireplace (cooking fire). On east side, a marvelous step-gable remains. the step-style shape make the structure stronger against wind and the granary more waterproof so fodder is not damaged. This gable is much higher than the roof which is nowadays made with slate or corrugated iron. The difference in height reminds us that the roofs used to be covered by 30 cm thatch. If you look by the openings, you can understand the way the rooms were arranged. · Through the first window you can see the "paele" , that room was used to store food and be workshop. · The second window belongs to the Unique room, a small room to avoid the cold and closed by woods and bars · The unique room door is still small to avoid loosing heat. · Further is a wider double door with an opening on one of them : this is the stable. In our countries, the entry of animals have always been different from people's one. The aim of the opening was to ventilate the stable during the winter. · At the end of the house, again a gable that you may not have noticed before as it is at the granary level. Therefore loads of hay could be uploaded directly from the charriot. The hayloft was perfectly equipped with trapdoors to provide hay directly to the animals. · Another feature of old houses : almost all of them had had a small bunker, like a pit dug in the ground closed with a little trapdoor. There were safely kept potatoes. With such an arrangement this house could face the winter. Minimum windage, minimal openings and full of hay granary were making a very good insulation . The unique room was the only heated part, with a stone fireplace well situated to heat both sides. There were only 2 things outdoor : water and oven. In front of the house you can see a cement basin where the water used to arrive from a little spring higher. This basin has been modified : the part where the water arrives was originally on one end of it. The basin consists in 2 compartments, one smaller and equipped with iron rods (across), to fill buckets and preserve food or milk, the other longer, was used for several animals to drink at the same time.

This communal bread oven had different uses in the past.In our community the oven wasn´t in community, each village had at least one, even every farm like this one. This building's inside cannot be seen from outside. It is half an oven (the back part) and half a storage room for oven tools (shovels, scraper, wooden storage, embers boxes). This oven probably used to work once a week or once every two weeks. There were only one baking made, but the heat of it where used to cook a good gratin or pies after the bread, to not loose the heat. Here is the way this oven was working : · First, a wood fire is light inside the oven, as it has no chimney the smoke and gas get out through the opening of the oven so the whole place is filled with smoke. · The oven is heated for several hours, with lots of embers. · Then the embers are removed using a kind of scraper. · After the oven is cleaned with the "pana" (An old jacket or a large piece of cloth soaked with water) in a circular motion to push the ashes at the edges of the oven leaving it clean (part where the bread is put to bake) · The breads are baked for 45 min or 1 hour, depending on the size of the piece of dough. Meanwhile the smell spreads out, making evebody getting hungry.

Very rich area with lakes, wetlands and peatlands. This very nice walk will take you to a beautiful plateau. It is a real garden, nature sanctuary for many species.Lake Fourchu is the largest lake of the plateau formed by piles of rocks on northern part of the range of Taillefer. Dominated by the summit of Taillefer in the south, the lake is surrounded by lake Canard in the north , lake Veche, lake Noir, lake Agneau and lake Culasson in the southwest. The lake Fourchu was named because of its split shape. The vegetation around the lake is entirely composed with an alpine grass. The only tree is a conifer perched on the only little island in the lake. The lake is 2050 m high in altitude, it is frozen and covered with snow during the winter. Please stay on the main trail, help us to protect the peatlands and the fragile lake banks. You are in a very rich but fragile area. Fario trout and rainbow trout presence, AAPPMA Grenoble manager

Beautiful little lake surrounded by fir trees, easy accessible by forest tracks from Alpe du Grand Serre.Lake Poursollet is 1649 m high in the massif of Taillefer. Near a small village, it is easily reachable by the 114B road named Poursollet road from La Morte. There is a strong botanical biodiversity with a soil made of carbonate and siliceous essences juxtaposition. Many differents lands (weltlands, peatlands, lakes, and high altitude plains) shelter many different animal and vegetal species. The forest around is home to other variety. Peatlands shelter many amphibians and insects and make a very rich Alps area. The fauna is quite exceptionnal due to many endemic species. Please keep walking on pathes, and don't walk too much on the lake's banks. You are in a very rich but fragile area. Fario trout and rainbow trout presence, AAPPMA Grenoble manager