Mountain refuge Refuge du Soplat des Nants

Close summits and slopes

Under the Pointe de la Grande Journée and in the Mont Mirantin , this shelter is located 1,425 metres in Soplat des Nants, over Tours-en-Savoie, on the Albertville side and the Beaufortain massif. The reference of the forthcoming summits helps to understand its role: not so much a point of high extreme mountain, but an intermediate support on a mountain slope that connects forest, highways and accesses to more open reliefs.

Use in step or withdrawal

For its position, it can fit both as a stop on crossing routes and on a shorter day of rise and descent from low levels. The closeness of the Tour du Beaufortain and of its variant reinforces that function of a step-by-step shelter, useful for dividing a path or to resolve a withdrawal before losing too much height. It also remains within a network of local trails through forest areas, which links it to less alpine but continuous road routes.

Access runs in a context of half a moist and wooded mountain, where the orientation and state of the ground can influence more than the altitude itself. In this type of location it is appropriate to have room for rain, mud or changing visibility, and not to raise it as a coat with confirmed performance if the practical information has not been verified before.

For logistical purposes, there is a very close source, about 20 metres, a useful data for planning. However, in the mountains it is appropriate to check flow and conditions according to the time of the year. If it is used as a support to link the Beaufortain or as an escape point over the Turs-en-Savoie valley, the key is to maintain a prudent planning: water, meteorology and clear alternative of descent.