Forclaz du Bré

Introduction

This hike runs through the Arp Vieille valley for its entire length and reaches a narrow pass where the ruins of the Florio shelter are located, walking on the historic paths that were used by our soldiers during the world wars to defend the state borders; on the path you only have to be a little careful during the last traverse where the terrain is a little slippery. The panorama is open towards the peaks on the opposite side of the Valgrisenche and the Rhêmes valley, while it is closer towards the Becca du Lac and the Rutor, on whose long south ridge the pass lies.

Description

From the asphalted road, take the dirt track that rises at the obvious markers (1849 m) and, after a couple of hairpin bends, crosses another on the right (1914 m), which you leave behind to continue until you reach the Bochat huts. Shortly before these, there is a path on the right that crosses the road several times, cutting it short, and at an altitude of 2111 m, above a large boulder at the edge of the road, you will find the yellow marks that lead you along it to the left. Walking on a slight incline, we pass just below the Meillares huts (2145 m) and then come to a fork signposted by a small pole (2174 m), which we leave to the left to continue for a few metres where, at a large boulder with evident yellow marks, we leave the track to take the path that branches off to the left. Climb the low undulations of meagre pastureland and, after ascending a slightly pronounced promontory, you come to a crossroads (2499 m), marked by a yellow marker on an earth stone, at which point you continue to the right. As you cut across the slope, you lose a few metres in height, making a semicircle that arrives at the base of a high gully of grass and rocks that widens into the Arp Vieille valley. Arriving below the vertical of the pass (2570 m), the hairpin bends begin, at first ascending with easy turns and then, approaching the grassy side of the orographic left, they become narrower and steeper; arriving almost at the height of the pass, a traverse of about three hundred metres begins, somewhat eroded by water on a track of broken rocks and fine debris that arrives at the small pass where the ruins of the Florio hut are found.