View over the Col de la Vanoise, the Refuge Felix Faure and the Grande Casse

The commercial crossing of the Col de la Vanoise has evolved into a mountaineering base at the Grande Casse, the highest peak in Savoy, with a series of refuges providing accommodation since 1878, including the famous Félix Faure, built in 1903 by the CAF, completed in 1974 by two prefabricated buildings classified as twentieth century heritage and now replaced. But the evolution mainly concerns the melting glacier of the Grands Couloirs, particularly the 1935 tongues that changed the historic route of ascent of 1860, but also the tongue of 1820-30 as the lateral moraines would indicate.