Les Echelles de la Mort

The river gurgles and hisses, spray swirls. The banks are moss-covered, boulders pile up, broken trees lie in the water. It is a wild area, this Vallée du Doubs. We are on the way to the Death Ladders: “Les Echelles de la Mort” – so it also says on the map. And other names here remind of death: Aiguille de la Mort, Moulin de la Mort, Îles du Mortier. What is that about, when in the river gorge below the hamlet of Cerneux-Godat only a few ladders lead over some rock steps that offer no difficulties? Of course, there are abyssal rock walls that are not easy to overcome without artificial climbing aids. These have existed for more than 100 years – the first were installed in 1898; before that, smugglers and traders allegedly climbed up via fir trees, whose branches they sawed off and leaned against the rock. Later, there were wooden ladders until iron stairs were set up in 1998, making it possible to reach the Belvédère from the riverbank. But the rocks above the river have also