Sancy, Chaudefour and Lac Pavin: Chamois, the Highest Summit and the Youngest Volcano
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
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450
XP
+100 France
= 550 total
1 day
Sancy, Chaudefour and Lac Pavin: Chamois, the Highest Summit and the Youngest Volcano
450 + 100 XP
Look for chamois and mouflon in the Chaudefour valley, ride the cable car towards the Puy de Sancy — at 1,885 m the highest point of the Massif Central and the highest volcano in mainland France — and walk round Lac Pavin, a crater lake blown out by steam 6,900 years ago, the youngest volcano in mainland France and the deepest lake in Auvergne at 92 m. Its water only ever mixes in the top 60 m; below that it has been sitting still for centuries, loaded with carbon dioxide and methane.
Required Activities
1
of 3
Walk up the glacial trough of Chaudefour with binoculars and try for all three of its introduced mammals — mouflon, put into this valley from 1956, marmots from 1959, and chamois, which were released in the Cantal in 1978 and walked here on their own — then find the iron-red mineral spring bubbling gas out of the valley floor, with the dent de la Rancune above you
2
of 3
Ride the Mont-Dore cable car — the first ever built in the Massif Central, running since 1936 — three minutes up to the top station at 1,775 m, then climb the 864 wooden steps to the summit of the Puy de Sancy and use the orientation table to find the Cantal mountains; on a clear day Mont Blanc is on it too
3
of 3
Walk the full circuit of Lac Pavin, 700 to 800 m across at 1,197 m, and climb on to the Puy de Montchal above it at 1,400 m to see the crater from the rim: the explosion that made this hole threw ash as far as the sediments of Lake Geneva, and the bottom 30 m of the water has not mixed with the rest in living memory, which is why it is monitored for gas
Walk up the glacial trough of Chaudefour with binoculars and try for all three of its introduced mammals — mouflon, put into this valley from 1956, marmots from 1959, and chamois, which were released in the Cantal in 1978 and walked here on their own — then find the iron-red mineral spring bubbling gas out of the valley floor, with the dent de la Rancune above you
Ride the Mont-Dore cable car — the first ever built in the Massif Central, running since 1936 — three minutes up to the top station at 1,775 m, then climb the 864 wooden steps to the summit of the Puy de Sancy and use the orientation table to find the Cantal mountains; on a clear day Mont Blanc is on it too
Walk the full circuit of Lac Pavin, 700 to 800 m across at 1,197 m, and climb on to the Puy de Montchal above it at 1,400 m to see the crater from the rim: the explosion that made this hole threw ash as far as the sediments of Lake Geneva, and the bottom 30 m of the water has not mixed with the rest in living memory, which is why it is monitored for gas
Before you go
Snow reaches the Sancy from October and old snow lies into mid-July, so the 864-step stair to the summit is a winter proposition for much of the year. The wind at the top can be violent and the weather turns within the hour — take a shell layer even in August and check the forecast at the cable car station before you go up. The val d'Enfer is avalanche ground: four ski-mountaineers were killed there in February 2024. Lac Pavin is a 1,197 m walk with a steep pull up to the Montchal rim.
The 864-step stair and the ridge paths at the top of the Puy de Sancy are closed all winter while the ski area is running — the cable car still turns, but it is a round trip for the view of the pistes, not a way to the summit. The walkers' circuit runs 1 May to 31 October. In 2026 the cable car was also out for a long maintenance from 31 August to 18 December, so check sancy.com for this year's dates before you build a day round it. Marmots in the Chaudefour valley are underground from October to April.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
450 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
550 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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