The Border Ridge and Pointe de Recon from le Morclan

Start in Chatel. You can park your car in one of the small car parks or the larger multi-story car park which is next to the village square. (This is where the walk ends). If you are staying in Chatel or one of the other villages in the valley then Chatel is accessible using the service bus and if you have Multi-Pass then the public transport is free.

Walk up through the town to the Super Chatel telecabin and take this to Super Chatel; then walk to the Morclan Chair Lift and take this to Morclan. The lifts are free (2024) with the Multi-Pass.

The walk starts at the top of the Morclan chair lift.

(S) From the chair lift walk in a westerly direction towards the antenna at the top of Le Morclan (good views).

(1) Now walk back along the ridge in an easterly direction and join a track above the chairlift. As this turns to the left take a path on the right which runs parallel to the track, walking behind a hut.

(2) Follow the path, leading north east, it crosses two other paths and continues steeply upwards to the top of the Pointe des Ombrieux. (Look out for historic border stones which come in groups of three. Two stones are back to back and are engraved with the historic coat of arms for Haute Savoie, its pair is engraved with the coat of arms for the Valais. The third stone has engraved lines on the top indicating the line of the border and a date and number engraved on the side.)

(3) From the summit descend to a junction with paths on the right. You will cross a bike bridge in front of a drag lift to the Tour de Don. (It is possible to follow a path on the right to the rocky crest and walk this but the pasture had cattle and calves in it when we walked the route and we did not want to disturb them.)

(4) Continue along the border to a junction with a track.

(5) Turn right and follow the track which curves up and leftwards to a chair lift/restaurant and panoramic view point.

(6) From the view point walk along the path which follows the ridge behind a tow lift to two more lifts at Tete du Tronchet. Walk behind these and descend the ridge through trees to a junction with a track.

(7) At the track turn right (ignore the track going right and down) and go straight on to follow the track as it curves to the left it will pass the base of a ridge rising between trees. (8) (Again there is path on the right which goes up to the follow the ridge over Pointe du Mouet and Saix Rouge to the Col de Chetillon; you can take this to make the walk follow the border but again when we walked it there was a huge bull in the pasture which had been segregated from the cows and it did not look very happy.)

(8) Stay on the track beneath Pointe du Mouet and walk around to a path on the right.

(9) Turn right onto the path which contours the hillside above a small pond to a restaurant at Chalets du Mouet.

(10) From Chalets du Mouet turn right and walk up the track, this turns to the left and leads to the Col de Chetillon where there is a junction with two tracks. Turn left and head uphill to where the path splits.

(11) Take the path on the right going steeply uphill to the top of Pointe de Recon. (Good views) (12) Now descend the way you came to Chalets du Mouet. (Good place for refreshments.)

(10) Take the track out of the restaurant and follow it down hill passing a shrine. The track descends passing the pond and heads downhill to a junction with a path on the left.

(13) Ignore the path and keep following the good track, after two sharp bends arrive at another junction.

(14) Take the narrower track on the right which descends to a T junction. Turn left and descend to another T junction.

(15) Now turn right back onto the main track and follow this downhill, through trees , and ignoring any tracks on the left. Arrive at a sharp bend with a bench.

(16) Take a path on the right of the bench and follow it towards some trees. The path now descends steeply with a stream to the left, (take care it is a little loose). The path emerges onto a road. Turn left and follow the road downhill into Anzere and near the cable car station. Turn right and make your way back to the village square and multi-story car park. (E)

The cable car and chair lift make the higher peaks accessible to many people but most are happy to walk up the Pointe des Ombrieux and back.

Check the forecast before you leave and take a wind proof in case it gets cold. However, you are never far from a good track leading down or back to the chair lift.

Most of this walk is on good paths or tracks and is possible in shoes or trainers.

There are a couple of places on the route where you can buy refreshments; at (6) and at (10).

This walk follows the border ridge between France and Switzerland. This was once the site of much smuggling and there is an old customs house in Chatel which you can visit and which documents the history and stories of the area.
https://en.chatel.com/the-old-customs-ho...

The French IGN map shows what looks like random two digit numbers at places along the ridge. These are in fact the remaining historic marker stones which laid out the boundary. Those on the French side show the coat of arms of the Dukes of Savoie/Kings of Pietmont Sardinia and are different to the current Haute Savoie arms as they incorporate a crown. (These stones will pre-date 1847)The stones on the Swiss side show the coat of arms of Valais. A third stone is engraved on the top to show the line of the border and the side is dated and numbered. The numbers match those on the IGN map.

Great views of the Chablais mountains and of those in Switzerland including Lac Leman.