The Dents-du-Midi chain has become famous due to its unique geological form and also thanks to the Château de Chillon. Numerous engravings of this edifice have pictured our famous mountains in the background. They have also inspired many painters and writers such as Victor Hugo, who loved to stay in Champéry. But thanks to the sporting opportunities it provides, this massif has gained the status it has today.

The Tour des Dents-du-Midi was trialled in 1961, created in 1962 by Fernand Jordan and organised by the Daviaz Ski Club in 1963. These mountains had the honour of welcoming the world’s first high mountain race. In 1968, in view of the success of this competition, a study was carried out. Its goal: creating a path for hikers around the Dents-du-Midi. Certain visionaries who were among the most important names in the development of tourism in the Alps, for instance Joseph Varone, Georges Pillet, René Coquoz, Georges Ex-Henry, Fernand Jordan and Hans Gemmet, were behind the project. These entrepreneurs obtained private funding and financed the route thanks to the Migros cultural service. They obtained permission, constructed 10 kilometres of paths and renovated 32.5 kilometres of existing routes. They put up signposts, studied walking times and established the stages and their huts; in short, they created the hike.

1972 saw the inauguration of the “Tour des Dents-du-Midi” hiking path. Economically speaking, this jewel of the Alps has not yet stopped astonishing and revealing its natural and topographical treasures. Its eastern side represents an exceptional European site for a future summer and winter resort.