Vallon de la Leisse

Fed by the melting glaciers and névés, the Torrent de la Leisse runs down the valley of Leisse to Entre-Deux-Eaux. There, it converges with the Torrent de la Rocheure to give rise to the Doron de Termignon which passes much lower in the valley at Termignon.

This chapel dedicated to Saint-Pierre is mentioned as early as 1729. It is the last of the four chapels in the area to be restored. A painting representing Saint-Pierre is now under the custodianship of Marie-Thérèse Burdin, manager of the Refuge d’Entre-Deux-Eaux. A mass was celebrated every summer until the year 2000. The priest received cheese and butter in exchange.

Of the 97 constructions in the alpine meadows of Entre-Deux-Eaux, this chalet has an atypical pillar with a round section built with lime, which served as a support for the ridge beam. The “Sarde map” (land registry of the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia) contained a record of this building as far back as 1728. Accounts tell us that the owning family was so rich “that it placed golden bells on its hens”. The mention of a salt store in the letters of the Stewardship of Savoy, suggest that this remarkable building could be this construction, although no evidence consolidates this version.

Bleu de Termignon cheese is a rare speciality of Termignon. In the shops you can find the white version, with no trace of marbling, but the best to be found is the blue that you can try from the local alpine farmers…

At the entrance to the Leisse valley, the grass is abundant and the cows graze on it. Higher up in altitude, where the oxygen and grass become scarce, is the field of sheep guarded by the patous dogs.

The recumbent fold (pli couché) of the Grande Casse or the “eye of the Grande Casse” on the right bank of the Torrent de la Leisse, masterfully overlooks the wandering hikers (to the left after the Pont de Croé-Vie).

The Pont de Croé-Vie, literally meaning “wrong path” in Patois, dates a priori to the seventeenth century. It is a semicircular single-arch bridge with whitewashed stones and a paved roadway. This construction is unique because of the decking height (in relation to floods) and the existence of parapets. The presence of this masonry bridge testifies to the strategic importance of the salt road, because a simple wooden bridge would have sufficed! The bridge was restored by the Vanoise National Park in 2008. It was an historical commercial and military crossing-point between the valleys of Tarentaise and Maurienne. The “salt and cheese road” took this narrow, bad route, leading on one side to the Col de la Vanoise and the Salines royales de Moûtiers, and from the other side to the Termignon cheeses and Italian spices.

On the right bank of the Torrent de la Leisse, on the sunny side, the ibex (bovidae mammal, Capra ibex) roam, while on the left bank in the shade, you can see the more discreet and wild chamois (Mammifera bovidae, Rupicapra rupicapra). As for the marmots, they take refuge in their burrows at the slightest signal whether from an eagle, fox or hiker (Sciuridae Mammal, Marmota marmota).

The three wooden chalets that make up the Refuge de la Leisse were built starting in 1970, on a glacial rock bar at 2,500 m in altitude. They are located under the Grande Motte glacier, which gives the landscape a wild and mineral character.