Plaine Joux – Lac Vert – Lac de Pormenaz Hike

This is a beautiful T3 hike starting gently from Plaine Joux towards Lac Vert and Lac de Pormenaz. It starts with the scenic view of Lac Vert – a lake that offers a beautiful view of Mont Blanc and its reflection on the lake on a clear day. The surrounding trees make this view unique compared to the more famous lakes of the region like Lac Blanc: Autumn is a highlight . Swimming is not possible as it is a stagnant lake.

Lac Vert Restaurant

Lac vert Restaurant

After seeing the lake, there is a restaurant nearby which also has a nice view of the Mont Blanc

Hiking up Lac de Pormenaz from the Souay stream

From Lac Vert towards the Souay stream, the hiking path is T1 and it is also often used by cyclists on their way to Lac de Pormenaz. As you reach the Souay stream you will see three path indications to Lac de Pormenaz. The first one is T1 and the 2 others are T3. I recommend taking the one that takes the shortest time when you are going up. For people who have vertigo going down on the latter may not be ideal. For our hike, we took the fastest path up and the second T3 path down.

Lac de Pormenaz

At just under 2000 meters, Lac de Pormenaz is just above tree level and it is not as much visited as Lac Blanc, which give this lake a certain charm. At times you can see people fishing on this lake. The hike can be further extended to Pointe Noire de Pormenaz which is the local summit at around 2300 meters.

Views of Pointes d’Ayères

As we moved back we just took the other path to the direction of Plaine Joux. At certain points of this hike you could see Pointes d’Ayères as depicted on the picture below and the Mont Blanc.