Bettaix hamlet

The name of the hamlet can also be written "Le Bettex". It would designate a wet, damp place (pronounced "blè" in Savoyard patois). The hamlet is built near the Doron des Belleville, but it is not the only one. The hamlet of Villarenger (1100 m) is even closer to the river and to the river Les Encombres, which has been destroyed by floods several times over the centuries. The Bettaix chapel is dedicated to Our Lady of Compassion.Like all the other hamlets, the Bettaix has a bread oven. It was in this hamlet that Blessed Paul accepted the care of a family in the 18th century before beginning his ascent to Lake Lou and his pilgrimage route to Rome across the Alps. Le Bettaix is also the hamlet of the coal mines which supplied the families of the valley. Under the Teurre (a rock that dominates the Doron des Belleville), coal seams were once exploited, as well as on the site of Les Menuires, originally called "Mineria".