Pointe des Arangles loop via La Roche Brisée

From Albertville, drive up the Tarentaise. Take exit 37 and head towards the Col de la Madeleine. Pass Villard Soffray and just before Villard Benoît, turn right towards Lachat. Pass Le Biollay and after 2.3 km, turn right towards Pont de Gelon and Plan de Lay, where you will find a large car park.

(S/E) From the car park, climb up into the mountain pasture where you will quickly find vehicle tracks leading to a second meadow. Turn right to reach a crossroads.

(1) Turn left. The path takes you to an electricity pylon, which you go around on the left to reach the steep climb up to Grand Plan. Avoid a rocky outcrop on the right, then you will reach Roche Brisée. There is no longer a path, but there are some very useful animal tracks.

(2) From here, continue northwest near the ridge to a small pass.

(3) At the small pass, descend via an easy step, then climb back up to pass a scree slope at its summit. At the beginning of the season, be careful of slippery residual snow. Go around a rocky ridge to reach the last 200-metre slope.

(4) There is no path, but the route is obvious and easy to follow. The summit is clearly visible. Go around the 2,270-metre peak and join the path coming from the Chalet de l'Arc, which follows the ridge up to the summit.

(5) From the summit, descend along the eastern ridge to rejoin the Chalet de l'Arc trail.

(6) Follow the trail until you arrive above the chalet and leave it to reach a steep slope to the east, where you will find a clearly visible notch. Quickly reach the Pointe de Glais Rouge.

(7) Descend north towards the ponds, then descend east into a small valley. Weave your way through the blueberry bushes until you are about 50 metres above the power line. Change direction to the south, to the right. Climb back up to the first pylon. This entire section is off-trail. Reach the second pylon.

(8) From the pylon, the path is difficult to see as it is not maintained. Head south to go around the ridge that descends from Pointe de Glais Rouge, then turn west, to the left, to cross the Tartet and join the descent path.

(9) The grassy trail is pleasant and ends with a level crossing to the south to reach the junction from the outward journey.

(1) Descend to the Plan de Lay car park (S/E).

Water can be found on the descent to the Ruisseau du Tartet as long as there is snow, after the question mark.

Be careful of steep snowfields at the start of the season.

If you lose the trail after the pylons, head south to reach the mountain pastures. It's a bit difficult but not dangerous.

At the small pass, you may encounter young ibex.

The top of the hike is very beautiful, with many pinnacles silhouetted against the sky. At the summit, there is a magnificent view of the entire Lauzière range, the Vanoise and even the Mont de Lans and Écrins glaciers.

You can just do a round trip via the Chalet du Col de l'Arc trail or skip the Pointe de Glais Rouge.

Beautiful view of Comborsier (Pointe de Comborsier - Hike) and Grand Mont d'Arêches (Pointe du Dard, Grand Mont and Lacs de la Tempête - Hike).