Pralognan-la-Vanoise: Les Fontanettes

Les Fontanettes

Only a summer village once upon a time, today the village-hamlet of Les Fontanettes (along with Pont de la Pêche) is one of the two main gateways into Vanoise National Park.

Guidebook with maps/step-by-step :

1. From the Bouquetin car park, walk up the main street to the Barioz chapel.
2. First continue straight between the houses then on the track lined with low walls to the hamlet of Les Bieux.
3. The path then climbs through the undergrowth and after a few bends, reaches the orientation table of the Rocher de la Fraîche which offers a remarkable viewpoint equipped with a reading table.
4. From the top of this balcony, you can easily identify the two tallest buildings in the station.
5. On your left, the ice rink which housed the curling events of the 1992 Olympic Games and further in the centre, the first and largest of the hotels in Pralognan. This construction, which dates from 1895, was first called “Hôtel de la Grande Casse”, then “La Grande Cordée”; today it is a holiday centre.
6. Retrace your steps to find the track and come out of the forest on the first houses of the hamlet of Fontanettes.

VARIANTS
1. Path n° 18 (then 19b) In the hairpin bend of the Route des Bieux, take the direction of the Fraîche waterfall and cross the bridge to go up on the opposite bank of the torrent.
2. The path then continues in tight switchbacks in the Lanches track to come into the forest, after a short descent, cross another bridge above the waterfall leading to the hamlet of Fontanettes.
3. Trail no. 18b (then 19) The start of the trail is at the Cavin bridge, which you reach by taking the road in the direction of Les Bieux in Pralognan.
4. Climb up to the viewpoint of the Fraîche waterfall and continue on the Lanches track via the bends in the path to the “window EDF” which marks the start of the forest track to the Pont du Creuset . Cross it to reach the Fontanettes.

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