Photo : MOSSOT / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
La vallée de la Clarée
The Clarée valley is a glacial valley of the Hautes-Alpes, in the Briançonnais, near Briançon, Montgenèvre and the Italian border. Crossed by the Clarée river, it rises between 1,400 and 2,000 metres' altitude, with alpine pastures and larch forests, and very snowy winters. Névache and Val-des-Prés are the main communes, and the Col de l'Échelle and the village of Plampinet are among its points of interest.
In the 1970s, the inhabitants opposed a plan for an expressway linking Fos-sur-Mer and Marseille to Turin, as well as a possible ski resort. The schoolmistress Émilie Carles led the protest, including a tractor demonstration in Briançon in 1974, and the project was abandoned. She told this story in Une soupe aux herbes sauvages. A Grand Site approach was launched in 1992 and the site is listed. Its preservation is supported by Natura 2000, and the valley has kept its wild character.
