The Trient springs from the Trient glacier in the Swiss Mont Blanc region, almost in France. Near Martigny, the river tore an impressive gorge in the rock over 20,000 years of laborious work. Two bridges of the Mont Blanc Express span the valley up to Chamonix.
How the ibex came to Martigny…
After the last ice age, the ibex was completely extinct in Switzerland. In the Aosta Valley in Italy, a small hunting area owned by the king remained. Attempts to reintroduce the ibex using mixed breeding failed. But at the inauguration of the Simplon Tunnel at the beginning of the last century, the Italian king was supposed to give the Federal President some ibexes for reintroduction. But the request was harshly rejected. So Switzerland helped itself: in a cloak-and-dagger operation, some envoys smuggled two kids over the Great St. Bernard to Martigny. A hefty fine did not stop anyone from carefully preparing the stolen ibexes for reintroduction. Today, 14,000 ibexes are once again living in the Swiss Alps.
Access
In Vernayaz there are parking spaces right next to the gorge. Strolling through the flower shop you reach the gorge and can walk along the sidewalks to the destination in a leisurely half hour.
