Alpine Pasture Crossing

This hike, which starts with a cable car ascent, will take you through these high pastures from one to the other, passing by magnificent viewpoints of the 4,000-meter peaks opposite. You will see how all the non-wooded green surfaces have been used by cattle breeders. Your route will end at the Ecomuseum of the Hameau de Colombire above Aminona. An opportunity to travel back in time and discover how hotels have replaced the farmers' mayens since 1893, on this magnificent High Plateau. Until the end of the 19th century, the Crans-Montana region was inhabited up to the height of the upper villages, administrative centers of the municipalities located between two rivers, the Lienne and the Raspille. Above the altitude of 1300 meters were the mayens, higher still, above 1750 meters, were the alpine pastures. At the mayen, families still lived in a homogeneous way. Higher up, however, in the alpine pastures, only the operating personnel lived there for a few weeks a year to graze the cattle, and this under quite precarious conditions. Only locals knew these high-altitude territories. Things evolved with the passage of transalpine travelers through the Rhône valley, with the arrival of the railway. These visitors wanted to see things from higher up. There, it was discovered that upstream of the agricultural slopes and forested areas, there was a magnificent and vast plateau of mayens, above which the alpine pastures were green and the mountain dominating them required neither special equipment nor experienced guide to traverse. So, people came here for holidays. It was quickly noticed that the air was particularly pure, the place very sunny and the climate healthy. It is therefore from the mayens level, then the alpine pastures, that the Montana-Vermala resort first, then Crans and finally Crans-Montana developed.