Dent de Lys

We reached the top of Dent de Lys hiking on its east face, which is a less popular approach than the one from the west. We started from the village of Les Sciernes (900 m) and after walking about half an hour on a small paved road, we cut through pastures.

We followed a route on grassy slopes on a trail that was barely visible, not identified by conventional marks, and in fact inexistent most of the times. We hiked up in a combe on a slope that after about 2 hours became steeper and disseminated with white rocks. We made our way through the limestones and finally scrambled up to a ridge that led us to the summit of Dent the Lys, marked by a wooden half cross. (Earlier photos show an intact latin cross).

From there we could see Vanil Carré and Vanil Noir to the east, Grand Sex, Teysachaux, Moléson to the north, and Vanil des Artses and Rocher de Naye to the south; southward in the distance, veiled by the haze, we could also recognize the distinctive shapes of Tour d’Aï, Tour de Mayen and Tour de Famelon.

We descended on the opposite face, following the exposed and narrow ridge towards the Col de Lys (1783 m). On the way down the trail is rocky and several passages are equipped with chains. Once at Col de Lys, the trail regains the grassy slopes and continues down to the village of Rosalys.