Going to Chalet de Miage via la Gruvaz

A rocket-like appearance... White in winter with a brown back or a beige belly in summer, with a black tail tip all year round... Can you guess who's playing hide and seek in the scree? It's the Stoat, a small, fast and powerful mustelid, a member of the Badger and Marten family. It doesn't actually play, but rather hunts voles, its favourite prey, thanks to its elongated shape, which allows it to slip into their burrows, where they think they're well protected...

Occasionally, hikers and families may build a temporary dam just for fun. By creating artificial dams, they slow down the natural flow of the river and cause harmful effects: - The movement of aquatic species is essential to enable them to feed and reproduce. - The temperature of the water rises, silt and algae thrive and it becomes more difficult for fish to breathe. - Stones are refuges and habitats for many of the micro-organisms that feed fish. Moving or turning stones upside down endangers the aquatic environment. To protect the river, we must let it flow freely.

In addition to their role as climate change indicators, glaciers are extremely important ecosystems on Earth. They cover almost 10% of the world's landmass and provide crucial ecosystem functions for humans and nature, such as sea-level regulation, climate and they also provide freshwater for the continents. Over the years, the Miage Glacier has undergone a major retreat. In just 150 years, it has retreated by around 1.5 kilometres since it was first stretched to the Grand Pont bridge in 1850. The Grand Pont bridge can be seen on the way up the stream to the Miage pastures. To find out more, visit the Ice Life project website, run by Asters-CEN74: www.iceandlife.com/

Weather forecast is the assessment of what the weather will be like over a short period of time. Forecasts are made on the basis of fluid mechanics, combining factors such as air, wind and water... Climate is the study of meteorological variables over a long period of time (30 years by convention). Several parameters distinguish weather from climate: - The time scale: weather forecasts are made over a week, whereas climate trends are thought out over a decade or even a century. - The geographical scale: weather forecasts are local, whereas climate forecasts look at trends over an entire region, or even the planet. In short: weather forecasts look at day-to-day fluctuations, whereas climate forecasts look at all these fluctuations over a long period of time. Here’s a fun hint: You've been a calm, reserved person for 30 years (climate) and you get all worked up for 72 hours (weather)!