Mont de Grésy via Montailloset

Park in the car park at the Grésy-sur-Isère cemetery.

(S/E) Begin the ascent by walking alongside the cemetery. Reach and cross the Ruisseau des Lavanches, which is usually dry, as the water flows underground here. Shortly afterwards, you’ll reach a crossroads of paths.

(1) Turn right and follow this stone-lined path to the farm track through the gorges. Take this track towards the village of Montailloset. Before reaching the village, you’ll come to another fork.

(2) Leave this track and turn left onto a farm track, leading to the protective earthwork surrounding the hamlet.

(3) Pass the ‘no entry’ sign, then take the path on the left. Walk for barely ten metres along this path and turn left. Cross the woodland to reach, via a stretch that is particularly steep in its straight section, the Ruisseau du Couloir des Gorges.

(4) Take great care here not to step off the ledge, which is sometimes narrow or obscured by vegetation. This steep path leads to the foot of a cliff equipped with a metal guardrail for 10 metres.

(5) Continue along the rock face, descend a little into a damp forest, then climb back up a gully which ends in a series of switchbacks fitted with a metal guardrail. You’ll reach a small grassy platform.

(6) Take care here: there is no marked path, but climb with your back to the viewpoint, then turn left and keep level. Pass by a boulder and reach the stream at the first weir, a sort of dam to slow down floodwaters. There are four visible weirs. Cross the stream between weirs 1 and 2.

(7) Climb slightly to leave the banks of the stream, then find a well-marked path. Take it to the left, crossing several streams before reaching Mont de Grésy without difficulty.

(8) Now begin a long, easy descent via numerous hairpin bends. Keep to the left on the path, ignoring the various junctions. Reach the junction leading to the old church at Grésy.

(9) Turn left again, cross the Torrent des Lavanches and, a few steps further on, you’ll come to the junction you passed on the way out.

(1) Turn right and retrace your steps along the route you took on the way there to return to the Grésy car park 
(S/E).

Between (5) and (6) An interesting stretch as it bears witness to human activity from a bygone era. A cable obstructs the path, no doubt a remnant of timber hauling.
Between (7) and (8) Depending on the time of year, crossing the Ruisseau des Lavanches can be tricky, as the vegetation is so dense and tall.
(8) Mont de Grésy: two picnic tables and a spring provide a place to take a break.
Lavanche:
- in the Académie Française dictionary,^5th edition, this feminine noun refers to a large quantity of snow that falls suddenly from the mountains. Lavanches are a danger at certain times when crossing the Alps. They are also known as ‘Lavanges’ and ‘Avalanges’.
- In the^6th edition, the word is synonymous with ‘avalanche’.
- In the book *Origins of the Names of the Mountains of Savoy*: *Lanche*: derived from the regional words *lanche* and *lanchi*, which describe a grassy strip of land on a sloping terrain between two gullies. The same meaning applies in Savoyard patois: a strip of land with a steep gradient, a mountain corridor that narrows towards the bottom.
This accurately describes the Bauges slope above Grésy, with its steep slopes featuring numerous scree slopes and torrent channels.

(6) Grass-covered plateau: serves as a resting place and offers a fine view.