Beaufortain: Beaufort Cheese, Lac de Roselend and the Hamlet of Boudin
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
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Beaufort Cellar Master
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250
XP
+100 France
= 350 total
2 days
Beaufortain: Beaufort Cheese, Lac de Roselend and the Hamlet of Boudin
250 + 100 XP
Beaufort has been an appellation since 1968 and an AOP since 2009, made only from tarine and abondance milk, and the Beaufortain dairy cooperative, with 180 farmers, turns out more than 32,000 wheels a year in its cellars. Up the valley, the Roselend dam stands 150 m high on an 804 m crest and holds a lake of 320 hectares below the Cormet de Roselend, and the chalets of the hamlet of Boudin have been a site protected by the Beaux-Arts since 1943.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Go into the ripening cellars of the Coopérative laitière du Beaufortain at Beaufort, run a hand over the concave heel of a wheel and work out what it is for — it stops the cheese slumping as it ripens, and it took a rope on a mule's back coming down from the alp — then taste a summer alpage wheel against a winter one
2
of 4
Drive the D925 up past the Roselend dam to the Cormet de Roselend at 1,968 m, and stop at the chapel built beside the dam in 1962 to replace the one that went under with the alpine village of Roselend when the lake was filled in 1960
3
of 4
Walk up through the stone and timber chalets of Boudin above Arêches, a site protected by the Beaux-Arts since 1943, to the chapel of Saint-Jacques built in 1630, and see how the houses are turned so that their wooden balconies all take the sun
4
of 4
Eat a fondue savoyarde or a gratin de crozets made with Beaufort, the cheese Brillat-Savarin called the prince of gruyères, and taste it raw first so you can tell what the cooking does to it
Go into the ripening cellars of the Coopérative laitière du Beaufortain at Beaufort, run a hand over the concave heel of a wheel and work out what it is for — it stops the cheese slumping as it ripens, and it took a rope on a mule's back coming down from the alp — then taste a summer alpage wheel against a winter one
Drive the D925 up past the Roselend dam to the Cormet de Roselend at 1,968 m, and stop at the chapel built beside the dam in 1962 to replace the one that went under with the alpine village of Roselend when the lake was filled in 1960
Walk up through the stone and timber chalets of Boudin above Arêches, a site protected by the Beaux-Arts since 1943, to the chapel of Saint-Jacques built in 1630, and see how the houses are turned so that their wooden balconies all take the sun
Eat a fondue savoyarde or a gratin de crozets made with Beaufort, the cheese Brillat-Savarin called the prince of gruyères, and taste it raw first so you can tell what the cooking does to it
Before you go
The roads over the Cormet de Roselend are shut by snow from about mid-October to mid-May, so the drive is a summer one.
The Cormet de Roselend is closed to traffic from about mid-October to mid-May for snow, so the drive over the pass is a summer and early-autumn trip only; the cheese cellars and Boudin are open the rest of the year. Cellar tours at the cooperative must be booked. The Roselend road is narrow with unguarded drops in places and is a Tour de France climb, so expect cyclists.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
250 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
350 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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