Lacs du Chardonnet and Col de la Tourne in Tignes le Lac

Head to Tignes. Pass through the Lavachet district, following the lake. Before the tunnel entrance, just after crossing the Ruisseau du Chardonnet, there is a car park with space for around ten cars. Park there if you arrive early enough or if, by chance, spaces are available. If not, you may need to park at the Grande Motte car park, at the entrance to Val Claret, from where you can easily reach point 1 via an easy path.

(S/E) If you have parked before the tunnel entrance, immediately take the^GR® 5, which starts with a flight of steps (Vanoise National Park sign), and stay on the^GR® heading south-west. You will reach a sign indicating “Combe des Militaires – 2190 m” with, on the left, the direction “Val Claret”, which is where you would have come from if you had parked at the Grande Motte car park.

(1) Turn right towards “Lacs du Chardonnet”. About 50 m further on, there is another sign, “Combe des Militaires – 2233 m”; leave the “Refuge du Palet” sign on your left and turn right towards “Lacs du Chardonnet”. Then climb up this beautiful Combe des Militaires, taking care of mountain bikes which may sometimes be coming down, even though this path is reserved for pedestrians.

(2) Just before the hut at the small Lac du Chardonnet, there is another sign pointing left towards the Col du Palet. Go straight on, pass to the left of the hut and walk along the left side of the small lake.

(3) At the end of the lake, turn left to cross two tracks, and begin the circuit on the left-hand side of the large lake, passing beneath the Merles chairlift. You will soon cross a scree slope that flows into the lake, then follow a pleasant path through grassy terrain, before arriving in a peat bog area where streams feed into the lake. The path then crosses the route of the Grand Huit chairlift and continues until it emerges onto a track not far from the Les Merles chairlift station.

(4) Turn left onto the track coming from that direction and follow it to a hut.

(5) Follow the track to the left for about 300 m.

(6) You could stay on the track, but it is better to take a path on the left which winds its way before joining another track.

(7) Take the track on the left which crosses a stream that has been stone-lined, and continue for about 75 m.

(8) Take the path on the right, which runs alongside the Beau Plan basin and begins the final climbs towards the Col de la Tourne. First, a steep climb as you leave the Beau Plan basin with its few more or less dried-up lakes, then a new plateau with two dried-up lakes at the base of the scree slopes, and finally a last steep climb leading directly to the pass.

(9) We are at the pass, in a landscape almost entirely of rock, at the foot of immense scree slopes; when we visited in August 2014, there was a very large snowfield there. This is described in several hiking accounts; I dare to hope it still exists.

At this point, a sign indicates “Col de la Tourne – 2,656 m”, and the direction of the Refuge du Palet, reachable in 1 hour. This means that the Col du Palet can be reached in about 1 hour 30 minutes. We preferred to turn back and descend to Tignes via the same route until we reached the junction with the ascent path after the Beau Plan basin.

(7) Head straight ahead to join the track, turn right then immediately keep left to follow the track for about 100 m, until the start of the tarmac section. Take a winding path on the left, running parallel to the track, which eventually joins it after a right-hand bend. Follow the track to the left until the next bend.

(10) Leave the track by taking a path on the right which zigzags down towards the Chardonnet ski lift; follow it for a while before skirting the large blocks of flats to the north and reaching the village at the Palafour chairlift station.

Please note regarding this series of paths: some are more or less reserved for mountain bikes, and are even used by them even when they are reserved for pedestrians: so please be very careful.

Head to the Tovière gondola station, then walk along the lake. After crossing the Ruisseau du Chardonnet, head up to the right towards the road, cross it and return to the car park (S/E).

For those who have parked at the Grande Motte car park (Val Claret), take the^GR® 5 at the tunnel entrance and follow it to point 1, where you will find the path leading back down to Val Claret.

Mountain boots and walking poles are essential, particularly for the final section between Beau Plan and the Col de la Tourne.

No major difficulty for experienced walkers.

This hike is stepped, with several sections separated by steep climbs. First steep climb, the Combe des Militaires: it’s a steep ascent, and it can get very hot there in summer. First plateau: the Lacs du Chardonnet plateau, then a little higher up, Beau Plan. Second steep section: the exit from Beau Plan. Next plateau at the bottom of the scree slopes before the pass. Final steep section: the pass itself.

For the descent, after Beau Plan, watch out for mountain bikes, which are becoming increasingly common in Tignes – indeed, they are largely to blame for the disfigurement of the landscape around the resort. Trails that were previously for pedestrians may now be reserved for mountain bikes. However, as the descent is done by sight with Le Lavachet in your sights, the route indicated from (10) is purely indicative: there are so many paths that you can always choose one that is not reserved for mountain bikes.

On the return journey, for those who have parked at the Grande Motte car park (Val Claret), take the^GR® 5 at the tunnel entrance and follow it to (1), where you will find the path leading back down to Val Claret.

We did this hike in August 2014 after first climbing up to the Col du Palet from Val Claret: we saw the immense white scree slopes of the Col de la Tourne from a distance and wanted to see them up close.

In fact, a logical alternative to this hike would be to reach the Col du Palet from the Col de Tourne, and then descend back to Val Claret.

Among the other highlights along the route are the stunning views of the Aiguille Percée (especially from Le Beau Plan).