La tête de l'Éléphant — Attraction in Thonon-les-Bains

What an adventure! This is a great Via Ferrata, stunning views up the valley and a lovely seating area on the grass/rocks at the top when you finish.

You park opposite the graveyard and then head up the path from there. You will reach a chalet where the arrows point right, almost as if the path is through the chalet garden. Just to the right of that there is a narrow, overgrown path which is the way to go.

The walk up to the cliff face says 10mn, which we assumed meant minutes! 40 minutes later, after battling through some undergrowth, narrow paths and super steep slopes we eventually arrived!

Once on the Via Ferrata, it is quite physically demanding for amateur/unfit climbers like ourselves, it goes straight up with not many traverses, but is very exhilarating and the reward is great. (We chose the easier route up the Tete of the Elephant).

At the top the views are spectacular and you can enjoy a nice warm and sweaty beverage from your soaked through rucksack!

From the cairn at the summit, you then walk up a bit further, before the ropes and footholds reappear for a steep and slightly sketchy descent. We had taken our harnesses off and managed OK by just holding onto the rope. The descent then goes on for maybe 25 minutes before you re-join the ascent path.

Overall an amazing experience, but just be aware of the high physical demand required for the hike up and down and the Via Ferrata itself. (500m vertical from the car park to...

Very fun and decent via ferrata route(s)! There's 2 options, an ED (very dif) and D+. Both take about an hour to 90min to complete. Although if you want to do both back to back, you'd have to take the rather arduous, and steep, walk back to (halfway) the approach trail, which is in itself a brisk hike to begin with. It's a very exposed route taking you up to 300m above the ground and which affords a magnificient view of the surrounding valley during every step. You mostly move along steps and rungs, with only a few places requiring contact with the rock face. A bit of a scramble to get to the very top and then your reward is the view. On very clear days you can just make out the Mont Blanc in the distance.

And to be honest, we had a lot more trouble getting down the return trail than we did getting up the via ferrata. Be prepared for a steep, slippery forest trail...

Approche : 20min depuis le parking Descente : 30min

Ascencion de la tête de l'éléphant : 25min Pas de surplomb, que des échelles et quelques pans sans mains, d'où la surcotation en D+ je pense. J'aurai plutôt dit AD avec Passages D lorsque vous serez tentés de prendre la ligne de vie en main.

Ascension de l'oeil de l'éléphant : 35min Un surplomb assez important sur la première section, puis ça se calme. Ici aussi la difficulté consiste surtout dans les passages sans main qui vous feront peut être céder à tenir la ligne de vie, ce qui vous retirera toute la difficulté de la via, que je coterai ici TD.

Astuce: à 20min de redescente vous croisez le chemin d'approche ce qui vous permettra éventuellement de tenter l'autre partie de l'éléphant.

La tête de l'éléphant ne m'a pas apporté beaucoup de plaisir, passages très redondants. Je recommande l'oeil de...