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

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contr ...

for the

Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2 ...

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

Isère Isère ( , ; frp, Isera; oc, Isèra, ) is a landlocked department in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.dam was built. The lake is 10 kilometres long; in some places it is up to 300 metres wide. This lake is often windy and wavy. It is considered to be one of the best places for

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

and

kitesurfing Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. It is also an important site for fishing, as it has a great variety of fish species. Swimming in the lake is permitted. 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. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Avignonetins'' or ''Avignonetines''. Geography Avignonet is located some 25 km so ...

, Cognet, Marcieu, Mayres-Savel, Monteynard,

La Motte-Saint-Martin La Motte-Saint-Martin is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Isère department The following is a list of the 512 communes in the French department of Isère Isère ( , ; ...

Roissard Roissard () is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Isère department The following is a list of the 512 communes in the French department of Isère. The communes cooperate in t ...

, Saint-Arey, Sinard,

Treffort Treffort (; oc, Trafòrt) is a commune in the Isère department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 301. Demographics See also *Communes of the Isère department *Lac de Monteynard-Av ...

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 and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

The bridge design was based on traditional

s used in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

(see

Inca rope bridge Incana rope bridges are simple suspension bridges over canyons , gorges and rivers ('' pongos'') constructed by the Inca Empire. The bridges were an integral part of the Inca road system and exemplify Inca innovation in engineering. Bridges of ...

) 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 planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

to cross deep

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

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

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, "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 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