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Col du Sabot

Le Col du Sabot (FR-38-2100b) is the only pass over 2000m in the Isère department that is covered... and what's more, it is only covered on one side.

*The blue cross indicates the position of the Sabot pass*

Toponymy

Sabot comes from Sabaudia, the Savoie dialect.

Geographical location

Massif

The Col du Sabot is located in the Massif des Grandes Rousses.

Geology

The Col du Sabot lies in the depression between the Aiguillettes massif on the right and the Rochers Maupas on the left. A small fault here caused a crystalline mini-block to tilt and slide, like a vertical domino lying on its neighbour to the left. The resulting depression was later filled with Triassic deposits. This Triassic dolomite bed, covering the crystalline substratum, is clearly visible a few dozen metres to the east of the pass.

Hydrography

Both slopes are tributaries of the Eau d'Olle (a tributary of the Romanche, then the Drac and the Isère), while the Vorge, a tributary of the Flumet, rises at the Col and flows south-westwards.
To the north flows the Sabot stream, which joins the Eau d'Olle downstream of the Grand'Maison dam.

Access

From the south-westFrom Le Verney (near the Eau d'Olle power station), at the junction of the D526 (route de la Croix de Fer) with the D43a (818 m), you reach the Col du Sabot in 14.5 km. You pass through Vaujany (10 km away, alt. 1250 m) and pass through Le Collet. FR-38-1400 (7.7 km away).

The road leading up to the Sabot pass ... in the background the Lac du Verney (source Isère-tourisme)

To the north, a 2km path leads to the Grand' Maison dam (1,705m).

Author's caption: "The northern end of the Rochers Rissiou and the Grand Maison dam seen from the north, from the lower slopes of the Rocher Pilliozan (Lac de l'Ane path).

What to see - tourism

On either side of the Col du Sabot are the Grand'Maison hydroelectric facilities :

To the northAt the bottom of the path is the Grand'Maison dam and lake.

To the south-westFrom the D43a, the Lac du Verney, the hydroelectric power station and the EDF Hydrelec museum.

See articles Col du Glandon or Col de la Croix de Fer for information on dams, electrical installations and the Hydrelec museum.

Administrative status

Currently

The pass and its two slopes are located in the commune of Vaujany (Isère).

History

According to "oisans.comUntil 1860, the Sabot pass marked the border between France and Savoie. Vaujany, on the route des cols, was then equipped with a border office ...where the Grand'Maison reservoir now stands, in the past, vast alpine pastures were shared between the French and Savoyards.

The Grand'Maison was a large building used to house shepherds. Information completed by " Isère-Tourisme " Behind the Col du Sabot was a border post, some of whose ruins still exist.

This role as a border, with customs posts, came to an end in 1850 when Savoie became part of France. The development of the road network with the democratisation of the car isolated this road in favour of the present-day road that joins the Glandon and Croix de Fer passes via the Rivier d'Allemond.

Editor's note: If the Col du Sabot was the border between Dauphiné (France) and Savoie, this should mean that the route via the Col du Sabot (Allemond, Vaujany, Col du Sabot, Col du Glandon or Croix de Fer) was more practicable than the route via the Défilé de Maupas . (see the collapse of the Pic Brunard in 1989), (Allemond, Rivier d'Allemond, Défilé de Maupas, Col du Glandon), but no information on this subject was found on the internet by the writer. Nor is there any information or photos on the ruins of the border post mentioned by Isère-Tourisme.