Dents Blanches

Overview

The crest of the Dents Blanches closes the swiss Val d'Illiez in the south on the french border from the Col de Bossetan (2290 m) and the Col de la Golette de l'Oule (2470 m) in the west to Pointe Bourdillon (2713 m) in the east.
The crest spreads over 2 km between the Dents d'Oddaz and Grande Brèche. The name of the teeth is due to the color of the limestone specially light. More in the east, the Dents des Sex Vernays and Dent de Barme are not described here.

Don't confound the Dents Blanches with the 4000 m summit Dent Blanche in the swiss Valley of Hérens !

From the west to the east we find :
- Pointe des Chamois (2532 m)
- Pointe de la Golette (2645 m)
- Dent Occidentale First tooth (2706 m)
- Dent Occidentale Highest point (2709 m)
- Dent du Signal, principal summit (2728 m)
- Col du Trou
- Pointe Bourdillon (2713 m)
- Grande Brèche (2602 m)

Getting There

Start points :
1) Champéry

By airplane
The Geneva airport is your closest arrival point. (Sion, presently undergoing expansion, serves some European destinations.)
Reminder: the Geneva airport has its own train station. Passengers can catch a train to Champéry from here.

By train
Skiers in a hurry can take the TGV (high speed train) to Aigle, just a few kilometers from Champéry, throughout the winter season. The rest of the year, the TGV stops in Lausanne.
From Aigle or from Lausanne, the connection to Champéry leaves every hour.

By road
By Road:
Champéry is less than 90 minutes from Geneva and only 45 minutes from Lausanne.
Take the Lake Geneva motorway to Monthey, and follow the signs to Champéry (good year-round driving conditions).

2) Samoens

By Road
- Motorway A40 Genève / Chamonix.
Exit Cluses - Scionzier, Samoëns about 20 minutes.
- Road informations : Haute-Savoie 00 33 4 50 66 10 74 / Lyon 00 33 4 78 54 33 33
- Distances : Bruxelles - 774 km / Lille - 738 km / Lyon - 195 km / Marseille - 462 km / Paris - 582 km

By Train
www.sncf.com
- Arrival on Cluses SNCF station (20 km), on St-Gervais / Le Fayet line.
- TGV special winter line. Arrival in Cluses station. French railway informations (SNCF) 00 33 8 36 35 35 35

By Coach
- Samoëns 00 33 4 50 34 40 09
- Annemasse 00 33 4 50 37 22 13

By Airplane
-Geneva airport 70 km 00 41 22 799 31 11
http://www.gva.ch
-Air France Tel: 08 02 8028 02 www.airfrance.fr
-Swissair Tel: 33 01 45 81 11 01 www.swissair.fr
-Easy Jet Tel: 08 25 08 25 08 www.easyjet.com
-The Cies low coast.
4 departures by day from Geneva airport to Samoëns.
For more informations click here!
For more informations concernig bus line from the airport to Samoëns contact :
Email : acc-France@wanadoo.fr
Bus line from the airport to Samoëns
Informations : French tourist office. 00 33 0 41 22 798 20 00
- Lyon Saint-Exupéry airport. 00 33 4 72 22 72 21
E mail : diana.rimer@lyon.aeroport.fr
Bus to Samoëns with Satobus 00 33 4 72 35 94 96
.E mail : mail@satobus.alps.com

Taxis
Taxi Grand massif 00 33 4 50 34 90 90 M8
http://www.giffre-transports.com
Autogare / S.A.T 00 33 4 50 34 40 09 L8

3) Sixt Fer à Cheval
Go to Samoens. From here 6 km by car.

Routes Overview

TO DENTS BLANCHES OCCIDENTALES

1)Over Col de Bossetan :
- Pas de la Bide : Champéry - Chalets de Barme - Pas de la Bide - Col de Bossetan

- Les Allamands : Samoens - Les Allamands - Refuge de Tornay-Bostan - Col de Bossetan

2) La Vogealle : Sixt - Refuge de la Vogealle - Combe aux Puaires - Col de la Golette de l'Oule : F

3) SW ridge PD

4) S face of Gendarme Carré, "Matin Bonheur" route 5c

5) N face D

TO DENT DU SIGNAL

1) W ridge from Dent Blanche Occidentale F

2) N ridge AD (loose rocks)

3) NE face AD-

4) E ridge AD-

5) S spur D

TO POINTE BOURDILLON

1) W ridge PD-

2) E ridge AD-

TO POINTE DE LA GOLETTE

1) SW ridge (Golette de l'Oule) F

2) N face AD

3) E ridge AD-

4) W face, "Les Biquets Contemplatifs" 6a

SE face of E summit, "Un Paradis Perdu" 6a

TO POINTE DES CHAMOIS

= W face : nice routes in a good rock
- Circonstances Exténuantes 5c
- Hachement Zen 6a+
- Un Dimanche à la Montagne 6b

Red Tape

The valley of Sixt Fer à Cheval is a natural reserve.

Huts

1) Refuge de Tornay-Bostan (1763 m) - 100 beds - Open 15/6 - 1/10 - Winter room (30 beds) - Tél 00 33 (0)4 50 90 10 94

2) Refuge de la Vogealle (1902 m) - 50 beds - Open25/6 -15/9) - Tél 00 33 (0)4 50 34 11 87

3) Cantine de Barmaz (Champéry) - 45 beds - Open 15/5-15/10)

Camping

- Samoens
Camping Le Giffre
La Glière 74340 Samoëns
Tel 00 33 4 50 34 41 92
Fax 00 33 4 50 34 98 84
E-mail : camping@samoens.com
313 Pitches in 6.9 hectares
Caravan rental, mobile home rental
Washing and drying facilities
Children's play area
4 modern sanitary blocks
Camping car service unit
Handicap facilities

- Champéry
Camping of Grand-Paradis
For camping in winter or in summer, the 3-star campground at Grand-Paradis is situated on level ground near a river and is open year-round. The campground has 100 places at its guests’ disposal. Of these, 40 places are available for temporary stays (tents) and 60 places are for seasonal rentals (caravans).
For more informations and prices:
www.campingdechampery.ch
or per phone:
+41 (0)24 479 19 90 or +41 (0)24 479 14 44

Weather forecast

Meteo Champéry

Books

Tour et Massif des Dents Blanches (in french) Topo guide - Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre Réf 741

The Gouffre Jean Bernard

A very beautiful story started there thirty nine years ago. In 1959, in the massif of Folly near Samoëns, three young people discovered by chance, in the side of a wall, two holes "so deep which one does not hear the stones fall". In 1963, two speleologists of the group: Jean Dupont and Bernard Raffy find death in a goule in Ardeche. This drama deeply assigns the members of the Club who mythifient their comrades by baptizing their pit "Jean Bernard". Thus the marriage Vulcan - Jean Bernard starts, who still lasts. Hundreds of explorations, the majority in winter conditions, follow one another. Tens of speleologists take part in explorations. In 1979, the pit becomes deepest of the world with 1358m. Then in ten years, this dimension is improved five times and on December 3, 1989, the new record is established with 1602 meters. Newly a pit of Ukraine has been just discovered for a few meters more depth and the Gouffre Jean Bernard has lost his world record..

External Links

• Meteo Champery
  Weather forecast
  

Images

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