Country:
District:
Park in the Cirque de Saint-Même car park.
(S/E) Follow the road leading to the cirque. Take the first footbridge on the right and cross the Guiers. Follow the yellow-marked path towards the Grande Cascade. Ignore the path on the left and the two paths on the right.
(1) Grande Cascade waterfall in the Cirque de Saint-Même: cross the footbridge and follow the yellow-marked path that climbs up after the waterfall.
After about 100 metres, leave the yellow-marked path and take a path on the right that climbs up the hillside. Follow this path, which is marked by cairns.
(2) At the fifth bend, leave the path that climbs and take the path opposite to the source of the Guiers Vif.
(3) At this point, you can visit the cave upstream (remember to take a torch). You can also descend slightly between two cliff faces to the top of a waterfall (the path is equipped with cables to help you navigate this challenging terrain). To return, take the same path in the opposite direction.
(2) Continue along the winding path upstream. Follow this path, which quickly becomes exposed, to the Pas de la Mort. The path is equipped with cables and ladders, but there is a constant view of the drop below! This passage is not suitable for people who are prone to vertigo, or in wet weather.
(4) Be careful here: take the Pas de la Mort via the passage equipped with cables and ladders to reach the top of the cliff. Follow the path uphill, marked by cairns, until you reach the bottom of the Alpettaz mountain pasture. On the path, you will find several old boundary stones that marked the border between the Kingdom of France and Savoy in 1822.
(5) In the meadow, the paths are not very well marked. Climb straight up the slope to a well-marked path marked in red and white (GR®), and continue on the left until you reach the Alpettaz habert.
(6) From the habert, climb to the right towards the Grand Manti cliffs, following the mountain pasture along the ridge (follow the Kingdom of France - Savoy boundary markers that mark the landscape to the summit). You will arrive at the Grand Manti ridge.
(7) Follow a faint path on the right. About 600m further on, the cliff on the left narrows to a point where the ledge below the cliff joins the ridges. From there, you can descend onto the ledge and, after walking back about 30 metres along the ledge, reach the Trèfle tunnel. (The Trèfle tunnel is not visible when walking forward, but can be seen when walking back).
(8) At the Trèfle tunnel, return by the same route to the Alpettaz habert.
(6) Follow the red and white marked path (GR®) to the right until you reach the signposts for Alpette de la Dame.
(9) Turn left onto the yellow and red marked path (GR® Tour de Chartreuse). Follow this path towards Les Varvat. Pass the Rigne Bâton fountain (reservoir on the right of the path).
(10) Take the second path on the left (be careful, this path is not very well marked and descends straight down the slope: to find it more easily, look for the forest path where it crosses a small valley; the path is supported at this point by a concrete beam, and a small round red mark on the ground (to the left of the path) indicates the location of a "staircase" of three log steps leading down to a winding path with few cairns).
Follow this steep path until you reach the Cirque de Saint-Même car park (S/E).
Visorando member
Very difficult 
Moderate 
Extremely difficult 
