Round-trip bike ride: Round trip from Fer-à-Cheval

This route is a spectacular extension of the Giffre Circuit No. 39, starting from the charming village of Samoëns. It takes you to the Fer-à-Cheval, the largest mountain cirque in the Alps.

Direction of the route: clockwise

Landmarks and connections: Châtillon-sur-Cluses; Taninges (where it splits from the Ramaz Circuit No. 38 and the Joux-Plane Circuit No. 36); Samoëns (where it splits from and then rejoins the Giffre Circuit No. 39)
Description: The Fer-à-Cheval, the largest mountain cirque in the Alps, consists of 5 km of cliffs reaching up to 700 m in height and dominated by 3,000-meter peaks. It is in June, when snowmelt is at its peak, that the spectacle is most spectacular, with some thirty waterfalls cascading down these impressive vertical cliffs within the Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval Nature Reserve. The route to see the cirque follows the same path as the Giffre Circuit No. 39 to Samoëns, then continues as a round trip to Plan des Lac (end of the road). It therefore includes the relatively easy crossing of the Col de Châtillon and the pass through Taninges. After Samoëns, the slope steepens slightly as you ascend the upper Giffre Valley to its source. The return trip from Samoëns follows the left bank to the RD902, which takes you back over the Col de Châtillon and ends with a descent to Cluses.