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An interesting return to Col de la Gueulaz and the Lac d’Emosson could be made by crossing Col de la Terrasse, descending on the French slope to the Chalets de Loria above Vallorcine, then making a long contour north across the steep hillside on a path which leads directly to the Emosson dam. An easier alternative is to follow the clear path round the north shore of Lac du Vieux Emosson, pass through a short tunnel at its eastern end and descend to the road at Refuge Vieux Emosson. The metalled service road which dates back to the building of the dam nearby, can now be followed down to Lac d’Emosson, or you could take the path which drops below the hut, goes through the Gorge du Vieux and brings you onto the road at a hairpin bend above the lake’s western end.

The Upper Vallée du Trient

To conclude our survey of what we loosely term the Chablais Alps, we stray south of the Gorges du Trient to the very edge of the Mont Blanc massif where the upper reaches of the Vallée du Trient are neatly contained by clearly defined ridges; rocky and uncompromising in the southeast (the highest point being the 3540m Aiguille du Tour), but steeply wooded where they spill down towards the gorge at their northernmost limit. The French border traces the most westerly of these ridges, but only as far as Col de Balme. Here the ridge kinks northward from its former northwest alignment, but the frontier line ignores this slight change of direction and cuts straight down the slope to the Eau Noire stream and the Barberine chalets, before climbing the opposite slope to Lac d’Emosson.