Geographically, the Salève is a mountain of the French Prealps located in the department of Haute-Savoie, but geologically a part of the Jura chain, as the Vuache is. Below the Salève is the Genevaurban area where more than 700,000 people live. The Salève consists of the Pitons, the Grand and the Petit Salève, and culminates at 1379 meters at the Grand Piton. It is accessible via Téléphérique du Salève, a cable car, since 1932, the Salève stretches between Étrembières in the north and the suspension bridgede la Caille in the south. Between 1892 and 1935, the Salève was served by the first electric rack railway in the world. The eastern side of the Salève dives under the molasse of the Bornes Massif while the abrupt mountain slope facing Geneva is subject to erosion. The vegetation - or its absence - enhances the limestone's layers. This side of the mountain is slit by several narrow and deep gorges, among which the Grande Varappe, which at the end of the 19th century gave its name to the activity of rock climbing in French. This discipline developed intensely there, at a time when it was only beginning. The Monnetier valley, separating the Petit and the Grand Salève, is due to glaciary erosion. Modern geologists now think that this valley was dug by the subglaciary currents in a fissured region between the Petit and the Grand Salève, and not by the Arve as was assumed earlier.
From prehistory to green tourism
Between 12,000 and 10,000 BC, the Salève hosted a magdalenian site. Since 1833, the physician from Geneva François Isaac Mayor, then the minister Taillefer and the dentist Thoily explored the mountain's past. The cliff near Veyrier turned out to be a prehistoric shelter. Bones, flint and engraved wood were found in dozens of places including caves, shelters, and settlements. There was a dolmen at Aiguebelle. Between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, the settlements became more sedentary. An oppidum was erected on the Petit Salève around 1000 BC. The Salève offers a magnificent panorama over the Geneva agglomeration, Lake Geneva, the south of the Jura mountains, the Prealps, Lake Annecy and the Mont Blanc. It is used for leisure time activities by the inhabitants of Geneva due to its proximity to the city. One can practice rock climbing, hiking, mountain biking, paragliding, hang gliding, model aircraft, speleology as well as skiing at the Col de la Croisette. It can be accessed from the center of Geneva by public bus to Veyrier-Ecole or Veyrier-Douane. While the Salève is open to everybody for free, it also hosts agriculture – the cows of the Salève supply Geneva with milk – and forestry.
"Le syndicat mixte du Salève" and the "Maison du Salève"
The "Syndicat mixte du Salève" was created in 1994 and regroups the twenty communes on whose ground the Salève is located. Its objective is to appreciate and protect the mountain which is a "preserved island" in the middle of a French-Suisse territory that is highly urbanized with more than 700.000 inhabitants.
The syndicat opened the "Maison du Salève" in September 2007 in an ancient Mikerne farm house dating from 1733. This documentation center presents all aspects of the mountain: its history, patrimony, nature, sports and leisure. In the same year, it developed a charter for sustainable development of the Salève trying to reconcile the conservation of the massif with its increasing frequentation with a vision on 30 years. The "Maison du Salève" hosts a permanent exposition, temporary exhibitions as well as guided tours, excursions and conferences about the local patrimony and the environment. The syndicat involves in its three work groups - agriculture, tourism and leisure, access and transportation - all users of the Salève, i.e., communes, sport clubs, environment protection associations, restorations, farmers, hunters, tourism offices etc.
Tibetan temple
is a center of Tibetan Buddhism on the Salève, founded in 2010. It is under the direction of the Sangha sur Salève association. The monastery opened its doors to public on Sep 2010. It has deck open for public from where the Jura mountains can be seen as the backdrop of Geneva city. It is beautiful to see the monks performing daily rituals and prayers inside the monastery and one could buy Buddhist and Tibetan handicrafts, decorative items, books and jewellery from the store in the monastery.
The Dedicace to the Last song of Harold's Pilgrimage, proposed by Lamartine in 1825 as the conclusion of his friend Lord Byron's uncompleted poem, is located on the Salève. Byron died in 1824..
"Le Ruisseau" is a poem by Théophile Gautier located on the foot of the Salève..
The Salève in paintings
The Salève occurs on one of the first European paintings depicting a realistic landscape, La Pêche Miraculeuse by Konrad Witz created in 1444.
