Photo : Berrucomons / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Les cascades de Valgaudemar
La Chapelle-en-Valgaudemar is a mountaineering centre well placed at the foot of the Pic d'Olan, in the Écrins National Park. Going up the valley on the D480 road, you meet several waterfalls that leap from the slopes or escape from the ends of glacial tongues. You first come to that of Combefroide, just after the village, then that of Casset, the most powerful, which falls in several tiers for about 150 metres according to sources.
At the end of the valley, the Voile de la Mariée waterfall appears on the left of the path leading to the Gioberney refuge. Fed by the Lauzon torrent, nourished by a glacier above 3,500 metres, it is stated at between 80 and 120 metres high depending on the source, in several tiers. The falls are strongest from spring to early summer, and more modest in midsummer. The road then crosses a rocky chaos and opens out into the wildest part of the valley.
