Framedlight

After completing my photo tour of upper Tignes I decided to create some multiple exposures of the mountain scenery which can be seen below, en masse, followed by a straight shot with a mono conversion. Alan accomplished his Col de l'Iseran ride and met me once again in Tignes. A large reservoir has been created at the bottom of Tignes known as the Lac du Chevril. It supplies a vast amount of hydroelectric power but has drowned the old village whose relics can be seen when the reservoir is drained for maintenance. The dam was constructed in 1952 and there was a lot of controversy when it was decided to flood the homes of 76 families, several farms, shops and hotels. The lake did provide a nice subject for a couple of pictures.

Leaving Derek's house in the morning we drove through Bourg-Saint-Maurice and up into the Iseran Valley towards the Col de l'Iseran. We unwittingly followed the Route des Grandes Alpes for nearly the whole time we were down in the mountains. This was a series of roads created by the French Touring Club and finished in 1937, starting in Geneva and ending in Menton on the Mediterranean coast. It opened the area up to tourism and allowed the local population to reach the outside world more easily. With the coming of the autoroutes these rather narrow and precipitous roads are fairly free of traffic. Alan wanted to cycle up to the Col de l'Iseran (2770m) so he left me and Hettie in upper Tignes, which was deserted apart from a few workmen who were engaged on the lifts and residences in village. There is something very depressing about a ski town in summer. The high rise accommodation is usually never that well designed and the mountainside looks a mess where the runs have been...