Tour Percée

45°22′10″N 5°54′17″E

Tour Isabelle, February 2021
Tour Isabelle in the morning light, August 2018

The Tour Percée double arch, also named the Tour Isabelle arch, is a double natural arch, located in the Parc Naturel Régional de la Chartreuse, Chartreuse Mountains, France.

Its span is 32 metres (105 ft), which makes it the widest natural arch in the Alps.

It remained unknown for probably everybody, until its discovery in May 2005, when Pascal Sombardier, who was trekking to write his book Chartreuse inédite : Itinéraires insolites, dealing with lost places of the range, discovered it fortuitously. Its pictures illustrated the front cover of his book, published in 2006 : this double arch became then the symbol of the hidden treasures of the Chartreuse Mountains.[1]

Located in a very remote area, with a difficult and dangerous access, very few guide books, even the most recent ones, mention its existence. The arch is located on private ground, and its owner fights visitors off.[2]

  • Dawn on Tour Percée (South face)
    Dawn on Tour Percée (South face)
  • Tour Percée in the Spring time
    Tour Percée in the Spring time
  • Tour Isabelle neighboring skulls
    Tour Isabelle neighboring skulls
  • Tour Percée right after dawn
    Tour Percée right after dawn
  • Tour Isabelle with person sitting above the main arch to give scale
    Tour Isabelle with person sitting above the main arch to give scale
  • Tour Isabelle with person standing under main arch to give scale
    Tour Isabelle with person standing under main arch to give scale
  • Tour Isabelle in the Winter time
    Tour Isabelle in the Winter time
  • The double arch
    The double arch

References
  1. Sombardier, Pascal (2006). Chartreuse inédite : Itinéraires insolites [Unprecedented Chartreuse: Unusual Itineraries] (in French). Grenoble: Glénat. ISBN 2723453960.
  2. Guittet, Aymeric (2021-11-19). "" Ils font la loi " : quand chasseurs et randonneurs se disputent un superbe paysage" [They Dictate the Law: when hunters and hikers bicker over a beautiful landscape] (in French).


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