Description of the route

Altitude: 2,415 m
Location: Menouve Valley
Sleeping places: 16
Open: always open
Difficulty: E
Trail sign: 20B
Ascent: 2h30 from Prailles
Coordinates UTM-WGS84: EAST 362967
Coordinates UTM-WGS84: NORTH 5081688

Equipment:
located at the foot of Mont Vélan (3,710m), along the itinerary of the Alta Via no. 1 and the Tour des Combins, it sleeps 16 with bathroom, heater, kitchen, dining room and hydroelectric power unit.
The bivouac is open all year round, also in winter. A double steel door has been installed so please close it properly in order to avoid inconvenience.

Access:
Beyond residential Etroubles, from the State Road SS 27, take the fork on the right for Prailles, following the road signs. After a few km, you will come to a small car park (Prailles-Dessous) from where the dirt road that goes into the woodland of the Menouve Valley leaves. Once you leave the car, you will walk along the easy estate road that runs alongside the Menouve river for about 1h ignoring all bifurcations as far as a junction on the right with the signpost of the bivouac. Carry on along the small road on the right that heads down to the river (trail n. 20B), then cross it and head in the direction of the mountain pasture Arvus (1983 m) on the right. Follow the path behind the mountain pasture that with hairpin bends heads up the steep slope until it crosses over a fork, here keep to the right (trail sign 20B) and you will come to a crossroads with trail n. 21. From here take the path that leads up on the right passing some crags and shortly leads to the bivouac that is not visible from the path because it is in a depression, but marked with a stone cross located on the highest part of the valley.