Nature: Bard, Donnas, Hône, Pontboset, Pont-Saint-Martin, ** Valle d'Aosta **

The Mont Avic Park, first natural park in the Aosta Valley, preserves since 1989 the natural resources of the upper Chalamy stream valley in the municipality of Champdepraz and, since 2003 the Dondena valley, in the territory of Champorcher.

The protected area is characterised by extremely captivating landscapes and environments only marginally affected by human activities.
Crossing the paths that meander through the protected area gives visitors the chance to come into contact with particularly interesting and various natural aspects: rugged and characteristic geological formations, floral alpine endimisms and peculiar plant associations tied to the green rock substratum. The largest mountain pine forest (pinus uncinata) in the region with a couple dozen ponds, marshes and peat bog, it is unrivalled in number and in extension in the Aosta Valley. All the most widespread alpine animals in the region are represented.

You can hike along the park paths all year round. Most of the paths are snow-covered from November to May and only advisable for experts with appropriate equipment. Some paths can be ridden on horseback or on mountain bike.

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Col de Joux (1640m) is a woody pass linking Saint-Vincent with Brusson, and is thus a beautiful alternative route to the road that goes up from Verrès, to reach Val d’Ayas.
It runs past charming hamlets and goes through beautiful woods, providing wonderful views of the central valley and Val d’Ayas.
The word “Joux” has pre-Latin origins and means woody highland, however, can also be traced to the Latin Jugum, yoke, and hence hill.
Col de Joux also hosts the final Ayas section of Ru Courtod, an irrigated canal coming from the Ventina glacier and dating back to the 14th century.
Several trails of varying difficulty start here, for example those leading to Testa Comagna or Col Tzecore, but you can also go for a pleasant walk along the private road towards Sommarèse, or towards Pallu, with its artificial lake.

Description
The village of Bard, a site that is dense with history and culture, boasts not only architectural beauty (the Fort of the same name, the courtly homes) but also praiseworthy landscape aspects. From a morphological point of view, the area in front of the suburb consists of large rocky humps which reveal the signs of the erosive action of the Balteo glacier, which, up to approximately 10,000 years ago, flowed along the main axis of the valley, filling it with powerful depths of ice.
You can observe various geological phenomena at the Bard geological site: the results of a landslide, erratic boulders, potholes, roches moutoneés as well as examples of rock art.
The Bard landslide of 1912 may be linked to a massive collapse, the volume of which is estimated to be 160,000 m3. It consists of large rocky cubic and prismatic shaped blocks. This event is the most recent testimony of landslide activity that is certainly older and does not only interest the site indicated.
Erratic boulders are blocks of stone of metric dimensions transported by the glacier even for kilometres and then deposited during the withdrawal phase. This process is also said to justify the presence of rocky blocks with a different composition with respect to the sub-layer on which they lie.
The potholes are fossil forms shaped by the abrasive action of the waters full of debris originating from the glacier during the regressive phase. Given the turbulent movement and the effect of the mechanical processes exercised by the continuous impact, the stones transported by the waters of the sub-glacial river act like drills, creating enormous cavities.
The roche moutonée originate from the pressure exercised by the glacial mass and the grinding action of the noteworthy quantities of debris that shaped the sub-layer, moulding the roche moutonée, lengthened according to the movement direction of the glacier: rounded on top and on the side facing uphill, irregular below.
There is much doubt surrounding the meaning of the rock incisions of Bard. The “coppelle”, small cavities dug out of the rock, probably dating back to the Bronze age, are said to be reference points for maps. The snake, dating from 3000-2700 B.C. seems to recall the symbol of male fertility. The particularly elongated shiny section, known as the “women’s slide”, was probably formed during the course of the centuries as the result of a female fertility propitiatory practice consisting of sliding down the rock in a sitting position.

How to get there

• By car: from the Pont-Saint-Martin motorway exit, take the S.S. 26 in the direction of Donnas.
• By train : Pont-Saint-Martin train station, then bus in direction Aosta, stop in Bard.

The visit
Attention!
Since it’s not possible to enclose the area, the access is free, at one’s own risk.
Suitable footwear (trekking boots) is necessary as it is an outdoor path, not traced and in some parts slippery.
Furthermore, it is advisable to keep a certain distance from the mouth of the marmitte dei giganti, to avoid falls.

A small lakeside basin, the precious habitat of rare species

Established in 1994, this nature reserve covers 1.5 hectares. It is located at an altitude of 750 - 790 meters in the municipality of Pont-Saint-Martin, near the Suzey castle.

Flora: the wetlands include marsh reeds and broadleaf cattail. Additionally, it is the only known station in Aosta Valley of spatulaleaf loosestrife.

Fauna: considering the small size of the reserve, it only includes some rare amphibian species of which two newt species.

How to get there
From Pont-Saint-Martin village centre take the regional road towards Gressoney, turning on the right when you find the sign for the Ivery hamlet ; then continue until joining the Holay village.