Lac d'Emosson
The Lac d' emosson is a reservoir in the west of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. He lies in the municipalities Salvan and Finhaut.
Location
Surrounded by the peaks of Le Cheval Blanc, Pic de Tenneverge, Mt Ruan and tour Sallière, the lake at 1930m above sea level is dammed by an arch dam. So this is not ever half in Switzerland and in France, the boundary was moved west of the dam on the other side of the valley and abgetauscht a piece of land.
History
For power generation, the Swiss Federal Railways ( SBB), the rights guaranteed in the Vallon de Barberine on the territory of the municipalities Salvan and Finhaut on the water Barberine. Transport the material to the construction site of the dam, the meter gauge Chemin de fer Martigny- Châtelard (MC ) was clamped, which this did in 1923 recorded a record in freight transport. From Le Châtelard where one of the central power plant was created, up to the surge tank started the SBB in 1920 a funicular railway.
With the construction of the 79 m high gravity dam Barberine in 1925, the lake was dammed for the first time. The crown length of this wall is 284 m.
Switzerland and France joined for the expansion of the plant in 1963 a treaty. Among other things, a land swap was made so that the border was shifted so that the new dam comes to lie entirely on Swiss territory. In return, France received a right to use the facility.
The construction of the 180 m high arch dam emosson by Motor-Columbus in 1974, the storage volume of the lake from the original 40 million cubic meters could be increased to 227 million m³. The eponymous Alp emosson was flooded.
A special feature is the fact that the bulk of the inflow of water comes from the mountains on the opposite side of the valley. In the south, the water in the French Mont Blanc massif is collected under the glaciers of Glacier du Tour and Glacier d' Argentière, but above the Seeniveaus and then flows according to the principle of communicating vessels solely by gravity first downhill into the valley and then uphill again in the reservoir.
The enlarged facility is operated by Electricité d' emosson, a special case is the double use of the SBB, the power plant centers were connected to the new facility. The SBB power plants continue to operate under the original concession, regardless of Electricité d' emosson. and have the sole right to use the memory contents corresponding to the storage capacity of the old plant, including the trapped and dead space, plus an additional 17 million cubic meters.
The old gravity dam still stands at low water above the water level.
Technical data of the old dam
- Name of Dam: Barberine
- Completion: 1925
- Lock Type: Gravity dam
- Crown length: 284 m
- Height: 79 m
- Lock Volume: 206,000 m³
- Operator: Swiss Federal Railways, Zollikofen
Tourist attraction
→ Main article: Parc d'Attractions Châtelard
The Lac d' emosson is a popular destination for tourists. Just the drive to the dam is a special experience, because a sequence of three mountain railways connects Châtelard with the Lac d' emosson. Châtelard can be reached from Martigny to the narrow gauge Chemin de fer Martigny- Châtelard.
As the first stage of the " Parc d'Attractions Châtelard » (PAC ) performs a funicular to Chateau d' Eau. This path is at an angle of up to 87 %, the steepest two- cabin in the world. At a length of 1300 m, a height difference of 700 m is overcome. The track gauge is 1007 mm.
It then follows a powered Akkumulatorenloks panoramic narrow-gauge railway with views of Mont Blanc. The track width of just 600 mm; the relatively flat course is 1650 meters long and winds its way along the mountain slope to the station Pied du Barrage below the dam.
The last stage of this extraordinary journey is the funicular Minifunic which conveys passengers to the reservoir. The rubber-tired train with a track width of 900 mm overcomes over a length of 260 m altitude difference of 140 m ( maximum gradient 73%).
Above the Lac du Vieux emosson which is walking distance about 2.5 hours from Lac d' emosson, 1976 well-preserved footprints were discovered from 250 million years ago dinosaurs on August 23. This can be seen in the summer after the snow melts.
Lac d' emosson, seen from the Col du Passet