Walking in the Alps. Kev Reynolds

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СКАЧАТЬ to that mountain, but instead deposits tourists, climbers and skiers onto a high point near Col des Ruillans overlooking the Glacier de la Girose which spreads from Le Rateau.

      The north face of La Meije soars gracefully above La Grave for more than 2500 metres, a face climbed first in 1898 and one that dominates this part of the valley. ‘The view of this mountain from the village of La Grave can hardly be spoken of too highly,’ commented Whymper. ‘It is one of the finest road-views in the Alps ... But from La Grave one can no more appreciate the noble proportions and the towering height of the Meije, than understand the symmetry of the dome of St Paul’s by gazing upon it from the churchyard. To see it fairly, one must be placed at a greater distance and at a greater height.’

      Walkers are able to do just that by climbing a waymarked footpath to the hillside villages of Les Terraces and Le Chazelet. But even better views of La Meije and Le Rateau are won from the shores of either Lac Lérié or the slightly higher Lac Noir well to the west of Le Chazelet on the Plateau de Paris. These tarns provide sparkling foregrounds to some of the loveliest mid-height views in the Écrins range. Between tarn and mountain the deep valley of the Romanche lies hidden as a shadow-filled trough out of which snow-gilded peaks challenge the clouds.

      The Romanche continues to flow westward with only one other hamlet to note on the 12 kilometre journey from La Grave to the dam at the end of Lac du Chambon. Les Fréaux lies in the valley immediately below Le Chazelet. From it a trail rears up the southern flank of the valley to gain Refuge Chancel perched above a tarn in a scoop of mountainside below Le Rateau. One fairly level path, which links the hut with the intermediate station on the Meije cableway, passes the end of Lac du Puy Vachier, while a more strenuous trail rises to the upper terminus.

      The North Flank of the Romanche

      Beyond the dam at the western end of Lac de Chambon another tributary stream flows down from the north to join that of the Romanche. Mizöen guards the entrance to this northern valley through which a minor road forces passage to the small, unsophisticated hamlets of Clavans-le-Bas and Clavans-le-Haut, then crosses Col de Sarenne for a rough approach to Alpe d’Huez. Another road branches north-eastward from just below Clavans-le-Bas and wriggles up the hillside to the handsome village of Besse-en-Oisans. Not much more than a kilometre beyond Besse the tarmac ends, yet the continuing dirt road twists and turns agonisingly to reach an enchanting high pastureland basin with distant views of the Meije. Of more interest, however, is the footpath route which claims right to those same views, and better.

      Adopted as a variant stage on the classic Tour de l’Oisans, the path makes an exposed rising traverse above Lac du Chambon before cutting up broad verdant hillsides, gazing on waterfalls and seemingly endless rolling hills, along another dirt road, passing an occasional gîte, then heading into that enormous grassland basin between Col Bichet and Col du Souchet. By taking GR54 to Col du Souchet a better view of La Meije is won, while an even more delightful panorama is that seen from the shores of Lac Noir and Lac Lérié – the tarns mentioned above as providing a better opportunity to study La Meije than was possible from La Grave. A vague trail leads directly to them from Col du Souchet.

      This vast region of undulating pastureland on the edge of the Maurienne north of the Romanche valley offers tremendous possibilities for walkers. There are easy flower-covered passes to cross, broad ridges to wander along, modest summits to aim for. Though not among mountains of the first order, these walks provide scintillating views to a distant coronet of peaks farther south. Also in view are the glacial dustings of Les Grandes Rousses to the west, the horn-like Aiguilles de la Saussaz and du Goléon, and the Aiguilles d’Arve off to the east. In between, a soft scoop of grass and marshland, with gentle streams meandering through and a scattering of small chalets that provide the human touch. Accommodation is available in Refuge du Rif Tor, a few minutes’ walk from Col Bichet.

      Valleé de la Guisane

      Third of our valleys that encircle the Écrins massif is that of the Guisane which links Col du Lautaret with Briançon. The Lautaret was used by the Romans who built a small temple there. No sign of that remains today, but views from the col are quite lovely as one gazes over a foreground of sweeping green hillsides to the shapely Meije and neighbouring Pic Gaspard. East of the Lautaret, and walling the upper valley, the limestone Massif des Cerces is criss-crossed with paths, making this area something of a treat for walkers. GR57 and its variants make a thorough exploration of the mountains and glens that lie rucked between the loftier Écrins and the Italian border, and GR5 creeps through too, edging the district on its way to Briançon.

      The valley of the Guisane flows south-eastward with the National Park boundary tracing the right bank almost as far as the attractive small village of Le Casset; perhaps the valley’s best base for walkers content with gîte accommodation. Thereafter the ski industry has carved pistes and strung mechanical hoists up the north- and east-facing hillsides, making it necessary to delve deeper into tributary glens in order to regain nature’s tranquillity.

      Coming down the valley, here a flat- bedded, broadening trough, Monte Viso can be seen far-off – that cone-shaped, pre- eminent mountain of the Cottian Alps already studied from the Queyras. Forest clothes the lower hillsides, and meadows spread across the valley, while between Le Casset and Monêtier-les-Bains tents and caravans stand almost camouflaged by riverside scrub. Monêtier is a large village with ambitions to be taken seriously as a ski-station. It consists of an assortment of traditional dwellings and modern apartments, with hotels, restaurants and enough shops to be of use to backpackers passing through. Walks up through the forests and into wooded glens nearby can be delightful, but there have been some harsh things done to the upper slopes in the cause of downhill skiing that make one scurry away in search of wilder country.

      Below Monêtier several villages gather in close proximity, ski-slopes to the right, unfussed hills to the left. Along the upper left-hand flank of the valley a linking of trails makes it possible to avoid all habitation in a long and sunny belvedere walk from just below the Col du Lautaret to Briançon. At Briançon the Guisane loses its identity. Thereafter it is the Durance which forms the far-eastern boundary of the Massif des Écrins, collecting the waters of several fine mountain valleys as it works southward to Argentière-la-Bessée, Embrun and Savines-le-Lac where it relinquishes all claim to the range of l’Oisans.

      Fortified by Vauban in the late 17th century, and reckoned to be the highest town in Europe, Briançon holds much of interest and is worth retreating to in the event of bad weather forcing escape from high cols and ridges. It also has an important railway link with Paris, and road access via Col d’Izoard with the Queyras massif, but its valley is too busy, too fussy, to make it worth using as a base for a walking holiday.

      Downstream, Argentière-la-Bessée also has a railway station, and with easy access to the Vallée de la Vallouise and a clutch of splendid glens, is perhaps a better place to aim for if the plan is to concentrate a walking holiday in this south-eastern corner of the range where some of the loveliest high mountain scenery is on show.

      Vallée de la Vallouise

      Midway along the Vallée de la Vallouise, at a junction of glens with some tremendous high mountains nearby, is its main village, a busy little resort that shares the same name as the valley itself. The old village of Vallouise faces south, its back to the mountains and with more recent development spread out below. It has a choice of hotels, two gîtes and a municipal campsite. There are a few shops and bars, a summer bus service into neighbourhood glens, and an atmosphere of excited anticipation with so much dramatic scenery close at hand. Mont Pelvoux dominates as you approach from the south, although it cannot be seen from Vallouise itself due to intervening ridges.

      The main valley here drains from the north, while another, Val de l’Entre-les-Aygues, flows from the west. Both of these divide again to collect the melt from assorted glacier systems. The first we need to consider is the Vallon de Chambran which runs roughly north to south, with a СКАЧАТЬ