Visiting Place Moulin is an amazing experience: the blue water is embedded in a green valley with the white of the glaciers as a background. When you arrive below the huge dam, you could feel a little bit worried and perturbed by the force of this “big wall”. But this is the last human impact: when you reach the top of the dam a big, blue lake shows itself to your eyes. Over more than 105 millions cubic meters of fresh water lie under snowed peaks. Around the lake, on the banks are plenty of trees, whose color contrast strongly with the blue water. You can leave the car in one of the big car parks, wear trekking shoes and start an impressive walk beside the lake. An easy and large path leads to the “Prarayer” hut, located at the lake end. The track could also be done on bike, paying attention to the other trekkers. Now the idea of the local municipality is to create a new transportation service, by sailing over the lake. An ecologic ship, welcoming up to 50 passengers, will start from the dam’s wall, transporting people to the Prarayer site. Special systems will allow the boat to berth and to sail without any risk or noise. Before starting the project, the administration made an in-depth analysis to verify that the new service wouldn’t produce any kind of impact. The mobile wharfs are an innovative solution to overcome the problem of changing lake water level: they are conceived to oscillate up and down with secure stairs. The boat is powered by an electric engine, really silent, so it will not disturb tourists walking along the trail.
The new transportation service is a unique touristic offer: it’s the first time that a boat sails on an artificial lake at over 1.800 meters above sea level. For the visitors it will be possible to live an exceptional experience: moving over the lake under high summits, seeing a natural landscape, rich in vegetation and geological features. At the moment the service price has not been defined, but it’s reasonable that it will be cheap enough to allow one family to do this trip. In addition the boat journey will facilitate the approach to the “Aosta” hut, the base for the ascent to the Dent d’Hérens summit. In general tourists can benefit from the possibility to come back from Prarayer to the dam: this will favor a good and rich lunch in the hut and a return with the ship … without any supplementary stress. A new way to enjoy the Valpelline holiday.