Above Le Fornet, the Signal side opens into the broad Grand Vallon and the more secluded Vallonnet.
A vast, mostly north-facing valley gives Grand Vallon its sense of scale. The long descent towards the Isère takes in different aspects and variations across the mountainside, making it a rewarding prospect for a day built around a substantial mountain run.
Read Fredrik’s Grand Vallon storyFornet at its more committing: steep terrain, cornices and complex route-finding give Vallonnet a serious character. The return can also involve flat ground and effort, so this is an outing to judge as a whole, rather than simply a descent.
Read Fredrik’s Vallonnet storyGrand Vallon is accessed from Signal and offers several ways back towards the lifts. Vallonnet adds a traverse and short walk before its long valley descent towards Pont Saint-Charles and Le Fornet. Their shared starting area leads to very different days.
Pissaillas is the higher part of the wider Fornet–Iseran area. It has its own page here so that the high-altitude starts of Col Pers and Pays Désert are easy to find.
These are practical groupings for exploring the guide. The individual accounts explain their approaches, variants and returns.
These are ideas for professionally guided outings, not route directions. Beyond the marked pistes, avalanches and cliffs demand specialist judgement. Choose the day’s route with an appropriately qualified local professional; carry a transceiver, shovel and probe and know how to use them.
Icons describe terrain, skiing demands and walking, including route variants. Skiing labels are descriptive, not official grades. Open terrain describes the landscape, not the snow conditions; a missing terrain icon does not mean that feature is absent.
Photographs from Fredrik’s collection. Photo credits.
Choose the day’s route with a qualified local guide. Avalanche and cliff hazards require specialist judgement; carry a transceiver, shovel and probe and know how to use them.
