The torrents of the Hautes Alpes have always been the major scourge of this department. Some of them have proven to be formidable by producing “burst flows”. This is the case of the Verdarel torrent located in the town of St Chaffrey. This is why the Société Géologique et Minière du Briançonnais, a non-profit association, has carried out a walking tour aimed at taking stock of this subject.

The main sites to visit are:
* the stream of Ste Elisabeth, its drawbridge and its “folding doors”,
* the Verdarel torrent:
- lower part: the thousand-year and widespread flood of 1856 and the developments of the torrent,
- top of the moraine: the flood of July 9, 1981 and...a very beautiful panorama!
- upper part: the “active slide” and its consequences, the Malatra torrent.

The application presented here is the result of a collaboration between this association and 2 IT companies, Briançon Informatics Services (in 2013) then Alpes Web Solutions (in 2024 for its redesign).

It allows
* to find your way around in order to easily access the different sites,
* to virtually or actually discover 7 geo-referenced sites through photos, explanatory texts or audio messages.

More general information is available in a section titled “learn more”.

To benefit from all the features of the application, it is desirable to have a smartphone equipped with GPS and a card providing Internet access.

The first two sites of the route are accessible to people with restricted mobility. The other four require walking over a difference in altitude which can reach a total of 400 m. It is not recommended to venture on the course in bad weather. Some sectors are dangerous. Supervision of children must therefore be careful.

Good walk