In Val d’Isère, the Manchet parking lot serves as the starting point for Olivier and his two colleague workers. Armed with their picks, their mission today is to restore the trails around the Mont Roup loop. Routine maintenance primarily aims to ensure proper water drainage and maintain a solid trail base for hikers' comfort.
Using their tools, the workers clean water diversions, metal or wooden structures that redirect water to prevent it from running down the trails. They also clear out silted-up ditches that accumulate stones and earth over time. These structures are crucial for effective runoff water management, limiting soil erosion and preventing more significant interventions.
More substantial work, requiring heavy equipment like jackhammers, is sometimes undertaken. In July, a trail between the Sache valley and the Martin refuge was rebuilt after its foundation partially collapsed.
Their tasks also include repairing directional signs, such as one whose blades showed signs of wear, quickly fixed with a few screws.
Trail maintenance generally begins around June 15th. Footbridges, removed for winter, are reinstalled to facilitate passage, notably towards the Fond des Fours refuge from the Manchet valley. They will be removed again in the autumn.
The Vanoise National Park manages 16 refuges, and the maintenance of these buildings is also part of the workers' duties. This summer, the wooden cladding of the main chalet at the Fond des Fours refuge was repaired. The teams possess diverse skills, ranging from plumbing to carpentry and painting.
These seasonal workers, active from mid-May to mid-October, are a vital link in the park's visitor services. They maintain nearly 400 km of marked trails, guiding hikers to preserve natural environments and limit disturbance to wildlife.
An exceptional project this summer involved the construction of a dry stone arched bridge in Haute-Maurienne, near the Femma refuge. This training project allowed workers to enhance their skills in dry stone construction, a traditional know-how of the valleys and the Park, alongside experts from Muraillers de Provence.
Olivier describes this period as a 'wonderful human adventure' that fostered synergy among the Park's work teams.
