My name is Guilain Debossens. I was born in 1962 in Geneva, Switzerland, and have been living in France in Mont-Blanc country since that time. My favorite continent is Africa, during many visits over the years to the famous Sahara Desert. I love nature, and my adventures in the Sahara country revealed to me the wonders of the desert. In 1994, I visited for the first time the Colorado Plateau in the American Southwest. I fell in love with this colorful landscape and the amazing formations which can be found there. I especially developed a predilection for natural arches and bridges, those unrivalled natural monuments born of the game of chance and time.
| From the book "Chartreuse Inédite" By Pascal Sombardier Glenat Editions 2006 ISBN 2-7234-5396-0 Treck number 7 : La Tour Percee Page 36. "They didn't believe me at the first, and the cover photo featuring this structure was called a photomontage. It was in fact hard to believe, even for me. How could such a wonder traverse the ages unknown when it was both the biggest natural arch in the Alps mountains and a unique geological formation, with that miraculously suspended rock stratum. After visiting and observing it, I realayed the find via internet to a american society that keeps a worldwide inventory of these sorts of formation : the Natural Arch and Bridge Society (NABS), of which have since become a member. The NABS vice-president, Guilain Debossens, who is based near Geneva, Switzerland was surprised at the news, so we fixed a rendezvous at 4 A.M one morning at the village of La Terrace. Guilain is a true enthousiast. He was amazed at the sight, dwelled on the subject and took risks shooting pictures from all angles. In the end he took out his tape to determine the span of the arch : 32 meters. I was even more surprised than he, as I had presumed that L'Arche Miracle was wider. In France only Tafunatu (35 meters), in Corsica island and Pont d'Arc (53 meters) are bigger. Perhaps not overly impressive next to the world's hugest arches, almost all of which are located in Utah in the USA with the two largest tying for the first place at a colossal 91 meters, but all the same a beautiful sight. A fresh worry came to me : do we now have to fear an overcrowding of this newly attractive site by numerous and loud groups of people, even if the difficult access would seem to keep it safe from non-mountaineering tourists ?" Copyrights Pascal Sombardier. |  |
In 2017, the Natural Arch and Bridge Society honored the auther with a plaque for his outstandind achievement in cataloging 1000 arches in France.
The author in Upper Peonera Canyon (Guara)
The author in Aroum Pass (Tassili)