The NW Corridor of Le Sautet is located in the Fiz chain, in the commune of Sallanches opposite the refuge of Véran, in the face overlooking the Arve valley of the Tête du Colonney - Aiguilles de Varan chain. The difference in altitude of the difficulties is 472 m (total difference in altitude of 1656 m at the start of Le Grand Arvet or 2200 m at the start of Sallanches). Its attack is at 2150 m and the summit of Le Sautet is at 2622 m. The hunters of St Martin commonly call the difficult passage accessing the funnel of the NW corridor: **La Cheminée des Rays**. It was equipped with an electric cable as a handrail by the hunters who were just climbing on it. They went around through the Head of the Columny. Although the general orientation of the corridor is NW, the Rays chimney that allows access to it is on the SW and is not visible from the Véran refuge.

Statistics

1

day +

1,776

m

1,781

m

40

max°

Difficulty

FATMAP difficulty grade

Extreme

Description

##Ascent Chalets in St Martin easily accessible by the rural road (or by the Pas de la Racine).

Walk along the sheep park by the path under the Tête de la Traille then follow the ridge line to the altitude of 2150 m almost stuck to the cliff. Some snow may be present under avalanche paths.

To avoid them and access the Rays chimney, you must cross the slope diagonally in stony ground. Go up the obvious Rays chimney in steps of 2, the first part is unstable and then the rock gets a little better.

A dihedral passage located at 3/4 of the chimney is easy at the beginning and then exposed at the end.

The exit from the chimney is in steep grassy ground (the ice axe can be useful).

Move up the wide corridor as best you can, preferably to the left and in its bed. Go around or in a big hole (it goes everywhere but for a discovery it's pretty nice and it means we're in the right place!) The corridor turns N to join the pass formed between the lapiaz area to the N of the Aiguille Rouge and the summit of Le Sautet.

To reach the summit of Le Sautet. ##Return - by Varan - by the Head of the Colonney<br/><br/>_This Adventure has been shared under the [Creative Commons Share Alike](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/) licence._