to climb Pic Quest, from whose 2844m summit the magnificence of the view is almost beyond description.
A penultimate day completes the circuit of GR58 for a second night back at the Refuge de Furfande, where your last night in the mountains will be a time of reflection, reliving the joys of the Queyras and, if you lucky enough, enjoying one of the magnificent sunsets that delight so many visitors to this region. The next day you bid a fond farewell to the mountains on the mainly descending trail of the standard route of GR541, back to the Durance valley, no doubt with a strong resolve to return one day. Those wanting to climb one last peak can do so by making the ascent of Garnier, above the col of the same name … but take care!
Before returning home, be sure to allow time to visit nearby Briançon, at 1290m the highest city of its size in all France, an ancient settlement with a rich and varied history, and a good place to buy souvenirs and presents.
By now you will realize that the Queyras is a land of superlatives. Its popularity among French walkers and those from several other European countries, notably the Netherlands and Germany, has increased considerably since the 1980s, and facilities to accommodate them have improved in terms of enlarged and upgraded gîtes d’étape and refuges. There is now also a well-established, inexpensive ‘sherpa’ service to transport luggage (and even weary walkers) from gîte to gîte. But, judging by the entries in the hut and gîte books, relatively few of my fellow countrymen have discovered the area. While it is the responsibility of a guidebook writer to ensure that his work does not result in a mass assault on a previously unspoilt area that will change its character forever, the Queyras could well cope with a doubling, trebling or even quadrupling of the number of British walkers to its high mountains and valleys. Eager to share this wonderland with other Brits, and perhaps tired of giving gentle encouragement to visit the region, I now want to shout from the highest summits: ‘Go, go, go to the Queyras!’ You will not be disappointed, and perhaps just a few of you will fall deeply and everlastingly under the spell of this remarkable and enchanted land.
Trekkers on GR58 about an hour out of Abriès
TREK 3
Tour of the Oisans by Kev Reynolds
| Start/Finish | Bourg d’Oisans |
| Distance | 176km |
| Grade | Demanding |
| Time | 10–12 days |
| Terrain | The Massif des Écrins, Haut Dauphiné, France |
| Max Altitude | 2761m |
| Guidebooks | Tour of the Oisans: the GR54 by Kev Reynolds (Cicerone Press, 2008) |
| Accommodation | Mountain refuges, gîtes d’étape and hotels |
The renowned French military engineer Vauban once described the region covered by this route as having ‘mountains reaching for the sky, and valleys sinking to incredible depths’, which perhaps helps explain why the Tour of the Oisans is reckoned by some seasoned hillwalkers to be one of the toughest of all Alpine treks. Not that every stage is particularly demanding, for some days are fairly relaxing, with streams and pools to laze beside, gentle passes to cross and meadows to amble through. But on the second half of the circuit, where cols and ridges are high, steep, remote and challenging, sections of brutal severity and sudden exposure can spark a rush of adrenalin and call for a clear head and steady feet. That being said, it’s a tour of rugged beauty that should appeal to all experienced trekkers with a good head for heights.
Tour of the Oisans
The rugged country of the Cirque d’Arsine, an hour’s hike from the Villar d’Arêne refuge
Southeast of Grenoble, the Massif des Écrins is celebrated as the highest block of mountains in France outside of the Mont Blanc range. It’s a dramatic region of abrupt rocky peaks and small glaciers, cols of black shale, precipitous screes and wild hanging valleys whose silences are disturbed only by the whistling of marmots or the chuntering of a stream spilling its way from one level to the next. Small lakes and ponds lie in shallow scoops, some half-hidden by a chaos of rock and boulder; others seem more welcoming, set among flower meadows or on a high plateau of pastureland. Habitation is sparse; a small village here, a workaday hamlet there. There are no real resorts to match Chamonix, Zermatt or Grindelwald, and even the main centres of Bourg d’Oisans, La Grave, Vallouise and La Bérarde have none of the glamour of their counterparts in other well-known districts of the Alps. These are simple, unpretentious communities: solid, sturdy and weatherbeaten. Most would still be recognised by Whymper, who came here to climb in the 1860s; but in their timeless simplicity lies much of their charm.
Located between Mont Blanc and the Mediterranean, a sizeable portion of this rugged, uncompromising landscape lies within the Parc National des Écrins, the largest and highest of France’s national parks, with an area of some 91,800ha. It has scores of peaks over 3000m high and the Alps’ most southerly 4000m summit, the 4102m Barre des Écrins, from which the district takes its name. La Meije, one of its consorts, towers over La Grave and was the last major Alpine peak to be climbed. Bronzed by the alpenglow, it stands as a mighty cornerstone, lording it over the Vallée de la Romanche.
This is the background to the GR54, otherwise known as the Tour of the Oisans. Why Oisans? Well, the Massif des Écrins answers to several names: Haut Dauphiné, Massif du Pelvoux, or l’Oisans. And Tour of the Oisans has become the established signature of the Grande Randonnée 54.
La Meije turns bronze with the alpenglow, seen here from Le Chazelet
A circular route of around 176km, it takes between 10 and 12 days to complete, and with more than 12,800m to climb across a series of cols, it’s an undeniably tough route. Some claim it’s one of the toughest of all Alpine treks, and when you consider the lofty ridges that act as spokes pushed out from a hub of mountains – spokes or ridges that confuse, interrupt and challenge the way – there should be no surprise at this claim.
The first half of the trek works around the north and eastern fringes of the massif, from Bourg d’Oisans to Vallouise, and though less demanding than the second half, which goes around the western side, it still has its ‘moments’. One of these comes right at the start, as we shall discover.
Bourg d’Oisans to La Grave
Within minutes of leaving the heart of Bourg, a waymarked path edges alongside the lovely Cascade de la Sarenne, then suddenly arrives at the foot of rock slabs that support the east wall of the Sarenne gorge. GR54 ascends these slabs by a series of minor ledges, narrow, grit-strewn and sufficiently tricky to demand caution. Here the steepness and severity of the slabs will make you curse any unnecessary weight in your rucksack, but fortunately lengths of fixed cable safeguard the route where it is especially narrow or smooth, and as you gain height, so the town comes into focus below and across the Romanche. Though of only modest size, Bourg is the administrative capital of the Oisans district, and flanked by steep-walled mountains it acts as a gateway to the Écrins
