Tour of the Oisans: The GR54. Kev Reynolds

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INTRODUCTION

      What is Europe's toughest trek?

      The general consensus of opinion usually names the GR20 high-level route across Corsica as the toughest of the Grande Randonnées, but with some justification the Pyrenean Haute Route – which teeters along the frontiers of France and Spain – gathers a lot of votes. Both are long and demanding, have sections without proper paths, and journey through remote country, often far from habitation. Yet there's another long and challenging route that is also a contender for the title of Europe's toughest trek. In places its route may not be quite as remote, nor its reputation as well known as those of the Corsican or Pyrenean treks, but it is undoubtedly tough and visually inspiring, with rewards aplenty for those who accept its challenge.

      What is this route?

      The Tour of the Oisans, also known as GR54.

      Making a 10–13 day circuit of the Massif des Écrins (another name for the Oisans region) in the French Alps southeast of Grenoble, the Tour of the Oisans is similar in distance, and in the amount of time required to walk it, as the classic Tour of Mont Blanc. But there the similarity ends.

      Vauban once described the region as having ‘mountains reaching for the sky, and valleys sinking to incredible depths’. This is precisely the country over which the Tour of the Oisans covers a distance of about 176km (109 miles), crosses 14 passes, and ascends a total of some 12,830m (42,063ft) in a little under a fortnight's holiday. These are bald statistics, of course, and mean little until they are translated into the physical reality of walking the route. This reality may come as a surprise to those who have not previously experienced other Alpine routes. Even among mountains as high and rugged as those of the Massif des Écrins, tackling a long walk – or trek – would not normally imply that the act of scrambling was involved, yet several stages of the Oisans trek cross unprotected rocky sections, or follow narrow, exposed trails (some little more than ledges or grooves in the rock) safeguarded by fixed cable. Others slant across steep slopes of shale and grit where a slip could have serious consequences. And some of the cols are so narrow that one could virtually sit astride the ridge with legs dangling on either side!

      It should be obvious then, that a clear head and sure-footedness are prerequisites of all who set out on the Tour of the Oisans.

      Plotted in 1963 and waymarked by 1966, the trek is scenically uplifting, for the tour has been routed around one of the highest and most dramatic massifs in the Alps. On almost every stage you gaze upon wild and rugged mountains, look down into deep valleys, stride across pastures, contemplate lakes, streams or waterfalls, and enter regions of apparent remoteness. There are villages and tiny hamlets along the way, but no real ‘resorts’ worthy of the name. Almost every stage enters one such village or hamlet where accommodation can usually be found in a simple but welcoming gîte d'étape or small hotel. But there are also mountain refuges in out-of-the-way locations that offer a dormitory bed for the night, and provide a more authentic high-mountain experience for the trekker eager to sample such delights as watching the alpenglow burnish the nearby peaks with evening gold, or wake in the morning to find the refuge inhabits a pristine world above a sea of cloud filling the lower valleys. Such experiences will count among the highlights of a tour around the Écrins mountains.