

Trient is a picturesque village on the Swiss side of the Mont Blanc massif and lays directly on the famous Tour du Mont Blanc trail. The village is located on the foot of an impressive glacier. The village is connected with the Chamonix Valley over the Col des Montets in France and with the Swiss Rhône valley over the Col de la Forclaz. Trient has just around 140 inhabitants and is part of the Vallée du Trient. In addition to its unusual pink church, Trient conceals a multitude of points of interest in the heart of a wild and preserved nature.

Only mountains can feel the frozen warmth of the sun through snow’s gentle caress on their peaks.

Trient with its pink church

The Vallée du Trient

The Vallée du Trient is a valley in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It lies on the left side of the Rhone and is about 17 kilometers long.. The Vallée du Trient is an area made up of several municipalities in Switzerland (Trient, Finhaut, Les Marécottes, Salva, Le Trétien, Vernayaz) and France (Vallorcine). The valley has a lot to offer whether it is a tourist attraction or a innovativ engineering projects. One of the largest hydro-power projects the Emosson dam is situated high up in the mountains above the valley. The huge Emosson lake with its dam is not just there for the electricity production, it is as well located in one of the nicest areas for beautiful hikes and mountaineering routes. One of the steepest cog rail trains (87%) leads up to the Emosson dam.

The Col de la Forclaz a major alpine pass links the valley with the next bigger town Martigny. In 2016 the pass became internationally well known with the Tour de France passing over this scenic pass. Since then it is even more a must-do challenge for every ambitions road cyclists.

Shortly before the end of the valley, the Trient flows through the 200-metre-deep Gorge du Trient (Trient Gorge), which can be accessed via fortified paths. The gorge is spanned by the Pont de Gueuroz bridge.

Trient has also a fantastic choice of accommodation and restaurants available in the summer and winter. True hidden gems are the Refuge Le Peuty, a small and cosy mountain hut at the end of the village directly on the Tour du Mont Blanc trail. In the winter you’ll get indulged with great food at the Yourte des Amis in Trient, located directly next to a ski lift and a sledding slope. The so called Jardin des Neiges project ist the perfect place for a winter escape with your family.

Trient Valley scaled

Ice Extraction

Natural ice was already used in ancient times. At great cost, it was extracted from year-round glaciers in the mountains, for example, and then transported to the appropriate location. This was not an option for the overwhelming majority of the population due to the high costs. With industrialisation, the demand for ice began to increase enormously. In addition, the introduction of bottom-fermented brewing by numerous breweries in the second half of the 19th century led to a sharp increase in the demand for ice. In the second half of the 19th century people in Trient began to export ice from the Trient glacier in order to sell it to the big cities.

Best season:
All year round
1300 m
Geneva (GVA), Switzerland
ca. 140
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