Via Ferrata Yves Pollet Villard, La Clusaz

Features

Limestone, completely South-facing. Well integrated into this area, few bars and a spectacular footbridge 80m above the ground! Lots of contact with the rock.

ViaFerrata Tips and Tricks

The rock is fairly smooth, weathered. If it's humid out, it's slippery. If it's raining, it's risky.

Not recommended for children and beginners, there are sometimes big gaps to cross.

Grade

Information

Tourism offfice of La Clusaz

Length & Altitudes

Start of Via Ferrata: 1,500 meters
End of the Via Ferrata: 1, 800 meters
Length:  700 meters
Elevation gain:  300 meters

Time of Year

Access to this via ferrata is prohibited between the 15th of November and the 5th of May, and also outside of this period, if the inspection has not yet been conducted and if there is still too much snow which makes the way back dangerous. Check with the Tourism Office if you have any doubts.

Timing

Access: 20 min from the parking lot
Viaferrata: 2h30
Way back: 40 min

By car

From Chambéry take the A 41 towards Annecy. Once you arrive in Annecy drive along the lake on the left towards La Clusaz

By Train

Check with the S.N.C.F .

Access

From le Clusaz, take the road towards the col des Aravis. You will find two parking lots on the uphill side of the pass. The trail is on your left.

From the parking lot, follow the path that goes towards the cliff face of the climbing area and then go right to reach the base of the first projection of the Via Ferrata (a total of 20 minutes).

Via Ferrata 

The "On the Right Foot" traverse, that climbs to the right, demands a bit of focus in regards to foot placement. Next follow a nice steep little wall that allows you to reach a large and comfortable ledge. You then get to, with the help of a series of rocky traverses and small projections, a beautiful suspended balcony, the two nests, before completing the traverse and a very short acent of a vertiginous pillar (the dungeon of the two nests).

Then you cross a grassy ledge to reach the base of a beautiful wall where the equipment forces you to position your body correctly (the Wall of the Right Move). A series of traverses, sometimes rocky, sometimes grassy, lead you to the "moving" part of the itinerary: the footbridge.

After the "ladies' pleasure": a beautiful combination of comfortable rocky sections fenced by two overhanging sections; then the magnificent lapiez slab which follows a fairly natural projection, before the big Gardener's traverse which alternates between rocky sections and comfortable grassy ledges.

A short climb leads to the final traverse, at the end of which one can either opt for more thrilling sensations in the overhang after the exit of the R'Tourne, or for the more comfortable solution of the Aravis exit.

Way Back

From the summit, a good trail takes you back to the parking lot via the Combe de Borderan in about 45 minutes.

Where to Sleep

Chalet les Fayards: Shelters of France, between the forests and high mountain pastures of the Aravis, Christel and Phill will welcome you in their independent lodges (adjacent to their savoyard chalet) at an altitude of 710 meters located 12km from the big ski resorts of la Clusaz and Grand-Bornand, and 20km from Annecy and 14 km from it's lake.

Media

par wil074, Youtube