Refuge des Mottets
An old dairy farm at 1864 m at the head of the Vallée des Glaciers, the last French bed before the border.
An old dairy farm at 1864 m at the head of the Vallée des Glaciers, the last French bed before the border. The Col de la Seigne is 650 m above; cross it and you are in Italy, looking down the Val Veny at the south face of Mont Blanc.
The place
An old dairy farm at 1864 m at the head of the Vallée des Glaciers, and the last French bed before the border. The buildings are stone and low, the pasture is full of cattle, and the Aiguille des Glaciers stands directly above with its glacier still doing what glaciers used to do.
From here the Col de la Seigne is 650 m of steady zigzag, an hour and a half or two, and it is one of the great thresholds of the Alps: you walk up out of France and down into Italy, and the view that opens on the far side — the whole south face of Mont Blanc down the Val Veny, with the Pyramides Calcaires in the foreground — is the moment most people remember from the entire Tour. Do it in the morning. It is worth being early.
Getting there
| Leg | Distance | Elevation | Trail runner | Fit / sportive | Multiday hiker | Relaxed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From Les Chambres du Soleil | 6.1 km | +374 / −69 m | 1h04 | 1h29 | 1h56 | 2h19 |
| To Rifugio Elisabetta | 7.8 km | +648 / −375 m | 1h37 | 2h19 | 3h02 | 3h39 |
Booking
Book on montourdumontblanc.com
This hut sells its beds through the Tour du Mont-Blanc booking portal, so the planner can show you its live availability night by night — and warn you the moment a full night frees up. Every night on the Tour must be booked; there is no walk-in option in season.
Stages passing this stop
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