The Lac de Monteynard-Avignonet (Lake of Monteynard-Avignonet) is an artificial water

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

for the

Électricité de France Électricité de France SA (; ), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational corporation, multinational electric utility company owned by the government of France. Headquartered in Paris, with €139.7 billion in sales in 2023, EDF ope ...

(EDF) power station on the river Drac. It belongs to the department of

Isère Isère ( , ; ; , ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the southeastern French Regions of France, region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère (river), Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.

. It is bounded by the canyons of the Drac and Ebron. The lake was created in 1962, when the 145-metre-high

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

was built. The lake is 10 kilometres long; in some places it is up to 300 metres wide. The lake is bordered by the following municipalities:

Avignonet Avignonet () is a commune in the Isère department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-eastern France. Geography Avignonet is located some 25 km south of Grenoble and 8 km north of Monestier-de-Clermont. Access to the commu ...

, Cognet, Marcieu,

Mayres-Savel Mayres-Savel () is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. It borders the communes of Marcieu to the west, Saint-Arey to the east and Prunières to the north. The largest alpine pasture in France, which is called Senépy ...

, Monteynard, La Motte-Saint-Martin, Roissard, Saint-Arey, Sinard, Treffort.

The bridges

In 2007 two

simple suspension bridge A simple suspension bridge (also rope bridge, swing bridge (in New Zealand), suspended bridge, hanging bridge and catenary bridge) is a primitive type of bridge in which the deck of the bridge lies on two parallel load-bearing cables that ar ...

s were built across the Drac and Ebron. The bridges are 220 and 180 metres long, respectively, and used 1200 metres of cable. Depending on the level of the water in the lake, the Drac bridge is 45–85 metres high above the lake. Construction of the bridges was achieved with the help of

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

The bridge design was based on traditional

s used in the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

(see Inca rope bridge) and

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

to cross deep

gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

s from rim to rim. Locally, the Drac and Ebron bridges are known as '' passerelles himalayennes'' (

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, "Himalayan footbridges"). Like some traditional bridges of this type, the Drac and Ebron bridges are stabilized with cables from below the deck. The bridges allow hiking and biking from

Matheysine Matheysine () is a French Natural region located in the Alps at the south of the Isère département. Its relief is a plateau surrounded by mountains. Matheysine is also called Plateau Matheysin. Geography The Plateau Matheysin is located in the ...

to Trièves, as part of a 30 km route around the lake.

References

External links

Monteynard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lac De Monteynard Avignonet Tourism in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Monteynard Avignonet Simple suspension bridges

The bridges

See also

References

External links