Going to Col de voza and Bellevue via le Crozat : Saint-Gervais snowshoeing

4 points of interest

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  Fauna

  White mountain hare

  White in winter, brown in summer, it is the king of camouflage. Unseen, uncaught by predators, with an extremely austere lifestyle, it survives the harsh conditions of high altitudes. And that's not surprising, as it was already thriving during the Ice Age! But with global warming, its brown cousin from the plains, the European Hare, is beginning to venture into their white cousin's warmer territory. Competition for space and food ensued. White mountain hare females even started to interbreed with European brown hare males. Will the mountain hares be able to survive as a species?

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  Fauna

  Following the tracks of the Black Grouse

  How can you tell where the black grouse spends the winter? Their droppings speak for themselves! When they take refuge in their igloos, or holes they make in the snow to shelter themselves, they leave droppings at the bottom. In spring, the melting snow reveals little piles of droppings known as "crottiers". Each pile is a clue to the presence of a black grouse.
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  An empty Bellevue hotel…

  A trailblazer in high-altitude accommodation since the early 19th century, it closed in 1980. At the end of the 90s, it was decided to rebuild the hotel, located on the Mont-Blanc massif. 10 years and 3 projects later, planning permission has finally been obtained! The hotel's goal is to be the first "passive" hotel in France: very low energy consumption, thanks in particular to the use of solar energy. The hotel was due to open in 2010! But because the building permit was not complied with, this new-generation hotel was never able to open...

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  Flora

  The Mont Lachat: a renatured area

  Mont Lachat is a Sensitive Natural Area (ENS). This is an area recognised for its natural heritage, but which is threatened and/or vulnerable due to urbanisation or the proliferation of industrial activities. The Mont Lachat ENS has been the site of daring efforts to rehabilitate and renaturate the site. After dismantling an old wind tunnel, the soil was reseeded with a mixture of local seeds. A total of 5,000 square metres was restored by September 2015. For a site located at an altitude of 2,000 metres, at the foot of a glacier and exposed to the wind, this was truly an unprecedented scientific experiment.