Ballandaz Gorges

The water from the canyons was considered for a long time as dangerous and causing floods and disasters. It had an irregular flow. During the eighteenth and the nineteenth century the inhabitants of Tarentaise used to consider the water a danger and not a gift due to its destructive force especially when the snow melted. Roads, bridges, flood barriers or windmills were often carried along during floods and farm plots,essential to the mainly agricultural economy,were badly damaged.

The beginning of the Belle Epoque changed the approach regarding the water. At the end of the nineteenth century climate stations like Pralognan emerged and thermal cures became successful. The canyons are then visited by curists from Brides-les-Bains looking for trendy healthy water. The development of thermal cures is linked with the tourism expansion: at the beginning of the century romantics are particularly sensitive to the magnificent and melancholic mountain environment : woods, waterfalls and impressive summits.

This popularity is going to increase with the arrival of electricity. Clean and silent energy propels modernity to the valley. New means of transport have grown : Tramways working on electricity replace dirty steam railways that spoilt the clothes of rich customers. The strong water from the canyons becomes the power source thanks to hydroelectric development. Hydroelectric schemes are the beginning of the instrudrial adventure in Villard-du-Planay all along the twentieth century. Nowadays these facilities provide electricity for the national network.

The canyons of Ballandaz are a great place of wonder full of history where the water has a powerful effect on the stones and the mountain.