Pontis is a very small village which shelters a restored fortified castle, an old school with a single class, transformed into a museum on the theme "Read, write, count... Train men".
These are not the only tourist assets of Pontis. Indeed, the town is more known for its "Demoiselles coiffées" or "Cheminées des Fées", rocky columns, in fact glacial moraines that erosion over the millennia has sculpted. Several meters high, they are topped by an imposing stone cap.
Contrary to the emblematic fairy chimneys of Cappadocia, in Turkey, the ladies of here are not of volcanic but glacial origin.
They appear to those who look at them as damsels wearing big hats and stand on the road between Pontis and Le Sauze-du-Lac.
You can admire these rock formations:
- from the Col de Pontis
- along the lake, on the road connecting Savines-le-Lac to Sauze-du-Lac
Trails with explanatory panels are planned around these buildings to explain the phenomenon of the 'Cheminées de fée'. You will also have a magnificent view on the lake of Serre-Ponçon.
In the Hautes-Alpes, these spectacular formations are found primarily at three sites: Le Sauze-du-Lac, Théus, and Châteauroux-les-Alpes. The Le Sauze-du-Lac site, near Serre-Ponçon, has been designated a protected area since 1966 for its beauty and scientific value.
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