The mountain is made up of landscapes marked by a significant relief.
At an altitude of around 1,200 m, the forest gradually gives way to alpine grassland to form the alpine pastures. These sub-alpine and alpine levels are essentially located between 1500 m and 3000 m altitude.
This grassland is maintained by livestock farming. By grazing, the cattle prevent the appearance of scrub and maintain the biodiversity of wild plant species.
More than thirty different plants make up the alpine meadows.
Sports tourism is particularly well developed here:
- in winter, with skiing and winter sports
- in summer, with hiking, mountain biking and summer sledging.
In addition, wildlife cohabits here with domestic species that come here for summer grazing.
This is a sensitive natural area and certain rules need to be observed to ensure its long-term survival.
Good co-existence between the different users of the mountain is essential to achieve this objective.
Alpine pasture maintenance
Pastoralism is essential for reclaiming and improving mountain pastures. The “mowing power” of sheep and goat herds is used to prevent bushes and weeds from growing on the mountainsides, which can also be used as tracks. From time to time, manual scrub clearance is used to recover overgrown areas, limit the spread of ligneous plants and ensure rapid improvement in forage quality through the fertilisation of dung. It also reduces the risk of avalanches, as the grass is regularly eaten by the herds in the mountain pastures, which greatly reduces the area prone to landslides.
