It rises gently from the south-east before abruptly falling away to near 800m sheer drop at some points overlooking Geneva (ice-age glacial formation at its most obvious). It’s not high, its highest point being around 1300m but it is long. On top it is effectively a plateau with views of the whole region (The Genevois basin, the Jura mountains, Switzerland and Lac Leman, Lake Annecy and the Alps).
There are a few ways of climbing the Salève, one is on foot which takes a few hours, two is by cable car which takes a few minutes, and three is by horseless carriage which was the option we chose. Once up on top, there are several trails high and low taking in a variety of landscapes.
Open alpage on top, deciduous woodlands below and rocky outcrops with precarious drops in between. We took a circular trail which we did not quite complete which took in everything the Salève has to offer, both in terms of landscape and in terms of views. It was a tiring, if not too undulating, walk which was really worth it.
There was not too much wildlife around; however very often a huge apocalyptic shadow would swoop over head – what is it? Dragons? Pterodactyls? Nope – parapente. The Salève is like many alpine ridges and mountain ranges in that there is an abundance of thermals and today was no exception. It was quite impressive to be rounding a rocky outcrop and see a huge parapente swoop by out of nowhere at some speed only a few meters away. If I had the guts I would like to try it as it must be heck of sensation as you are literally flying like a bird.
The rocks were quite impressive too, the most being the Trou de la Tine, a big hole effectively.
Looking across to the south you can see the much bigger stuff. Bring on the next mountain I say….
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