Finhaut

Châtelard

Finhaut is a municipality in the district of Saint- Maurice in the French speaking part of the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

The municipality also includes the villages of Finhaut Giétroz and Châtelard. The latter is in turn divided into the old core settlement Châtelard -Village and the boundary settlement Châtelard Frontières.

Geography

Finhaut is in the upper Trient, which is from Trento, a tributary of the Rhone, flowing through it.

The border with France highlight a number of peaks of the Valais Alps: Pointe de la Finive ( 2838 m asl. ), Le Cheval Blanc ( 2831 m asl. ), Pointe de la Terrasse ( 2732 m asl. ) and Les Perrons ( 2674 m above sea level. M. ). These four peaks in the west of the municipality enclose a valley in which the Lac du Vieux emosson through the arch dam, Vieux- emosson (1955 ) is dammed. To the east, in the direction of flow is the emosson - basin, where is on the municipality, the lower part of the Lac d' emosson which is dammed by the arch dam emosson (1975). La Barberine the running south Seeabfluss, forms the border with France, which was in the area of the dam subject of a field Abtausches. In the valley of the flowing eastward Eau Noire, in which opens the Barberine are left hand the towns of Le Châtelard Frontières, Le Châtelard -Village and it just above Giétroz, on the slope of Bel Oiseau (2628 m above sea level. M., southern summit) - L' Eau Noir also forms the boundary of the municipality of Trent. North of lying in Trento Tête Noire (. 1 199 m above sea level ) opens Eau Noire, Le Trent, where it enters the main valley; north of the confluence is the village Finhaut on south-facing slope. East of Finhaut the municipality boundary with Salvan that the Eau Noir, the Tête de la Boffa (1426 m above sea level. M. ) including a bow on the Mont de la Barme ( 2,307 m above sea level. M. ) describes and west over to the lowest of the three La Rebarme summit ( 2,421 m above sea level. M. ) runs. To the south west the boundary runs across the slope of the Dent de Fenestral to the northern summit of the Bel Oiseau ( 2643 m above sea level. M. ). Between the Bel Oiseau Oeil de Boeuf and the ( 2653 ), to which the Pointe de la Finive follows is the Vallon de Barberine in which the Lac d' emosson is. At its narrowest point between the Vallon and the emosson - basin the municipal boundary runs, there is also the old gravity dam Barberine (1925 ), which is located in the enlarged lake.

Neighboring municipalities are clockwise ( from the north ): Salvan and Trento. In the south and west borders Finhaut to the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône -Alpes Region in France; the commune of Vallorcine is a direct neighbor municipality.

Attractions

In 2012, a team of researchers discovered the two natural history museums of Basel and Geneva fossil, 240 million year old reptile tracks of archosaurs, the ancestors of the dinosaurs. These tracks came before auffalteten the Alps and there was a river level at their current location. By the latter process, the Vieux Emosson called reference are now at an altitude of 2,400 m above sea level. M..

Economy and infrastructure

Traffic

The main road of VERNAYAZ about Finhaut to Chamonix was built in 1867. A railway connection was the community in 1906 with the opening of the meter-gauge railway line from Martigny via Châtelard and Vallorcine to Chamonix, the Swiss section was created by the Martigny- Châtelard -Bahn (MC). The community is accessed via three stops from the so-called Mont- Blanc Express, operating company since the merger of Martigny- Châtelard train with other companies Transports de Martigny et régions ( TMR).

Tourism

The main tourist attraction is closely related to the power plant construction. Even the Swiss Federal Railways ( SBB) took advantage of the opening up of the construction sites and the MC started subsequent transport paths, including a funicular railway opened in 1920 Châtelard the moated castle of the power plant. After the SBB were thinking just before completion of the new dam emosson have an abortion, the SA transport emosson - Barbarine was founded around the funicular to save it from demolition. Also a part of the demolition provided transport path, a light railway with 600 mm gauge could be saved and prepared for the tourist establishment as Petit Train d' Panoramique emosson. The lanes were opened along with a cog railway in the emosson dam in 1975.

Between 1989 and 1991, the now much too small cog railway from the foot of the dam was replaced to the lake by the modern Minifunic. The company changed its name in late 1999 Trains Touristiques d' emosson and early 2004 finally in Parc d'Attractions du Châtelard SA. The three tracks access to a hiking area, whose most popular route of ascent to Lac du Vieux emosson heard on the banks of the summer dinosaur footprints can be seen.

Electricity industry

Since the 1920s, the energy shapes the community. She is since 1925 location of SBB power plants: the dam and the power plant Barberine "Le Châtelard », the first power plant level abgearbeitetes whose water is used in other lower-lying power plants again. Since 1955, the Lac du Vieux emosson stand together with associated dam Vieux emosson in the community. Present, the most recent expansion of the facilities experienced in 1975 with the commissioning of the dam emosson through which the southern part of the increased Lac d' emosson also comes to lie in the community.

This last stage required a treaty between Switzerland and France, over which a land swap was made so that the border could be shifted so that the dam comes to lie entirely on Swiss territory. In return, France has a right to use the facility, which is operated by Electricité d' emosson. For the contractually agreed with France use additional power plant headquarters were built, including "La Barberine » on the border between Vallorcine and Le Châtelard Frontières. The valley floor at Finhaut characterize today especially the balancing reservoir below the plants ' Le Châtelard "and" La Barberine ".