Top 20 Natural Monuments around Villaroger

The hike to the Aiguille de la Grande Sassière (a 3,751 m high mountain in the Graian Alps) is easy. The west and east of this part of the Alps form the watershed between the Rhône (Isère) and Po (Dora Baltea) rivers, which also forms the border between France and Italy. Climbing to the summit also offers a unique opportunity to see a glacier and two glacial lakes. If you're in the area, don't miss this breathtakingly scenic hike in the Vanoise National Park!

Grattaleu Lake is located just below a hill, behind the refuge. Overlooked by the Aiguille des Aimes and the Pointe du Chardonnet, the lake invites you to take a break before turning around to return to Tignes. Grattaleu Lake is one of the 130 high-altitude lakes in the Vanoise massif. Frozen in ice for nearly six months a year, only a few invertebrates live there.

Our plan was to climb the summit with our bikes on our shoulders. As there was still a lot of snow and some light climbing was required, we parked our bikes along the way. I recommend the Aiguille de la Grande Sassière for hikers but not for bikers, as the descent is partly doable but not worthwhile.

From Les Brevieres, this mountain is a real challenge to your fitness, as you have to overcome over 2200 meters of altitude. You will be rewarded up there with a magnificent view of the great 4000-meter peaks in the Alps. My tip for this tour is to take crampons in your backpack; they were really needed on the last 200 meters as there was a lot of snow, which is possible at this altitude at any time of year.

Lac créé par un petit barrage, accessible près du parking.

Lake Verney is the largest natural alpine lake in the Aosta Valley. Of glacial origin, it is located at 2,088 m above sea level, between the Bec des Rousses, the promontory of the Piccolo San Bernardo, and Mount Chaz Dura. The shores of the lake are colonized by hygrophilous vegetation that includes prized botanical varieties such as eriophilous grasses, sedges and rushes as well as sphagnum, a typical species of peat bogs. On the sides, the work of nature has left morainic deposits rich in springs, a perfect habitat for primroses and saxifrages. In a distant time, over 2,000 years ago, the Salassi people considered these waters sacred: they were used to bless the fields, unions and children, to propitiate a fruitful summer or a benevolent winter. When the Salassi leaders returned victorious from a battle, they offered the swords of their fallen adversaries to Graio, the god of war and rocks, as a sign of thanks. Today, Lake Verney is a favorite destination for many tourists as well as a fishing reserve. You can walk around its entire perimeter with a comfortable walk of about 45 minutes and by climbing further you can reach the Upper Lake Verney in about half an hour.

The word cromlech, which comes from the Celtic language (crom means circle and lech means stones), describes its essence exactly: 46 steles are aligned in a slightly elliptical circle with a diameter of 84x72 meters. Each stele is stuck in the ground at a distance of about 3-4 m from the others. This sacred place was created by the Celts in a period dating back to about 2700 years ago, when the “cult of stones” was practiced. In Tir Na Mor Art (Land of the Great Bear, the Aosta Valley of the Celtic era), Vestals and Druids were at home and studied celestial phenomena and practiced rituals here. The cromlech is oriented with the Summer Solstice: on the longest days of the year when the sun sets, the shadow of the two peaks behind the Sacred Circle is reflected on the ground and embraces its perimeter, leaving only the center of the circle to the sun. Wars and adverse weather conditions have led to the gradual degradation of this place. Consider that from 1856 to 2012 the Colle road cut the Cromlech exactly in the center and about ten steles were removed, a fact that for the ancient Salassi would have represented a horrible sacrilege!

Below the Col du Palet, Lake Garattaleu is a gem. At 2,517 meters above sea level, its verdigris colors reflect the greenery that proliferates between the great mountains of the Vanoise.