Dries Buytaert

La tournette 2025

A topographical map of our hike to Tournette and back.
A topographical map of our hike to La Tournette, with each of the three hiking days highlighted in a different color.
Small Cessna plane in a hangar with its door open, while a person in a safety vest loads backpacks into the cabin, preparing for departure.
Loading our packs into the plane before departure.
Passenger in a small plane wears a headset and safety vest, looking out the window, with a backpack beside him.
Axl watching the landscape roll by on the way to Annecy.
Two people sit in a Cessna cockpit, watching navigation screens and gauges.
In the cockpit of Ben's Cessna en route to Annecy.
View from a small plane cockpit approaching Annecy, with Lake Annecy and surrounding mountains ahead.
As we approached Annecy and prepared to land, La Tournette (left) rose above the other peaks, showing the climb that lay ahead.
Wooden boat tied to a dock on Lake Annecy, resting in calm water on a sunny day.
A boat docked on Lake Annecy.
A paraglider glides high above Lake Annecy, the blue water curving between green hills with small towns scattered along the shore below.
Paragliders circling above Lake Annecy.
A hiker with a backpack adds a small rock to a stacked cairn on a rocky ledge.
We paused to add a stone to a cairn along the trail.
View from the trail near La Tournette: mountain ridges and forested slopes, with a small chalet in a grassy clearing below.
The view on our way up to La Tournette, just past Chalet de l'Aulp.
An old mountain hut stands on a hillside, and a narrow trail winds through the rocky meadows below where two hikers are descending.
The old Refuge de la Tournette, closed since 2009, with the trail winding up through the meadows and rocks.
Young man sits on the grass, head down and arms around knees, resting quietly after a long day hiking on a sunny mountain trail.
Axl reflecting at the end of our first day on the trail.
A green pyramid tent stands on a grassy meadow below a steep rocky mountainside, with camping gear scattered nearby.
Our tent pitched in the high meadows near the old Refuge de la Tournette.
From inside a tent, an ibex with large horns stands a few meters away in the grass, looking toward the campers.
When we opened the tent in the morning, a bouquetin (ibex) was standing right outside, watching us.
A hiker stands beside a metal cross on a rocky summit, surrounded by large boulders, looking out over distant mountains under a cloudy sky.
At the summit of La Tournette.
View over Lake Annecy from La Tournette trail, with switchback paths, cliffs, forest near Col de la Forclaz, Chalet de l'Aulp, and old Refuge de la Tournette.
Looking down toward Lake Annecy. If you look carefully, you can see the forest above Col de la Forclaz, Chalet de l'Aulp, and the old Refuge de la Tournette along the trail.
A narrow hiking trail runs along a grassy ridge toward rocky peaks, then drops into the forest.
The ridge from La Tournette toward Refuge de Praz D'zeures. If you look closely, the trail winds all the way into the woods.
Wooden refuge kitchen with old moka pots and worn pans hanging on the wall.
The rustic kitchen at Refuge de Praz D'zeures. I loved the moka pots and pans in the background.
Outdoor sink at Refuge de Praz D'zeures where a backpacker refills water bottles during a mountain hike.
The outdoor sink at Refuge de Praz D'zeures where Axl refilled our empty water bottles.
A person rinses muddy rain pants under a tap at a stone fountain.
Axl rinsing the mud off his rain pants at a fountain in Montmin.
A hiker with a large backpack bends over a stone fountain, dunking his head in the water to cool off.
Axl plunging his head under the cool water of a stone fountain.
Four people relax on a wooden dock at Lake Annecy, sitting and sunbathing beside clear water.
People enjoying the late summer sun on a dock at Lake Annecy.
A young person sits on a lakeside rock, studying a small travel chess board and thinking about his next move.
Playing a game of chess.
Person stands on a wooden dock at Lake Annecy, facing the water at dusk, with mountains in the background.
Axl standing on a dock at Lake Annecy.