Villages d'alpinisme des Écrins en Hautes-Alpes, La Grave

In 2021, seven villages in the Écrins massif have launched a joint initiative: to create a Villages d'Alpinisme club and establish a charter of shared values. Les Villages d'Alpinisme des Écrins was inspired by the "Bergsteigerdörfer", a label created in Austria in 2008 and subsequently extended to Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland.

To come to the mountaineering villages is to disconnect from society and reconnect with nature in the mountains. Now that mountaineering has been listed as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO, seven of the Ecrins' most famous sites have launched a joint initiative in 2022: "les villages d'alpinisme" (mountaineering villages).

Le manifeste des Villages d’Alpinisme des Écrins déclare la volonté de « réenchanter nos villages, promouvoir un alpinisme authentique et respectueux, transmettre la tradition aux nouvelles générations, sensibiliser le public à la beauté fragile du milieu naturel, trouver le juste équilibre entre préservation d’une nature d’exception, notre plus grande richesse, et nos activités humaines, afin de pouvoir continuer à vivre en haut du haut. »

Mountaineering villages DES ÉCRINS

©Alpes Photographies

Between 2 poles

"The mountaineer is a man who leads his body where, one day, his eyes have looked..."

Gaston Rébuffat

Le club des 7

Les Villages d'Alpinisme des Écrins are historic departure points for major mountaineering routes to iconic peaks.

La Grave,
Villar d'Arène,
Monêtier-les-Bains,
Vallouise-Pelvoux,
La Chapelle-en-Valgaudemar,
Saint-Christophe-en-Oisans
Valjouffrey.

Sept villages d’alpinisme dans les Écrins, autant de camps de base au sein du Parc National éponyme. Des villages où bat le cœur d’hommes et de femmes de passion, les gardiens de refuges, les guides de haute montagne, les gardes et les scientifiques du parc pour qui la solidarité est le reflet de l’identité et des traditions montagnardes.

Mountaineering villages: places where mountaineering culture has been passed down from generation to generation.

mountaineering villages in the Écrins

Looking up to the summits

©Alpes Photographie

High mountain villages are on the front line of global warming: glacier retreat, rockslides, erosion, torrential flooding, changes in vegetation.

Ils sont surtout à portée de marche d’une incroyable biodiversité. Plus de 4 500 espèces animales et végétales y sont recensées. Certaines sont emblématiques, comme le bouquetin réintroduit en 1977, le chamois, le lagopède alpin, le gypaète barbu, quelques insectes discrets et menacés comme le criquet des torrents, bien sûr des conifères, la reine des Alpes ou quatre espèces de génépi dont le rarissime génépi des glaciers. Une nature aussi belle que fragile. Alors, regarde en haut !

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Glaciers de la Meije cable cars

THE BEGINNINGS OF MOUNTAINEERING AND GUIDING IN THE ALPS

In the 18th and 19th centuries, people in the high Alpine valleys showed little interest in the high mountains.

La conquête des hauts sommets n’apportait pas de quoi nourrir la famille. Un col qui permettait l’accès à une autre vallée avait un certain attrait, mais le royaume de roche et de glace n’avait pas de valeur pour les paysans. De plus, on le croyait sous l’emprise d’esprits maléfiques.

L’arrivée d’alpinistes d’ailleurs à partir du début du 19^esiècle, changea la donne. C’était notamment les aristocrates anglais qui pouvaient se consacrer à une telle activité de loisirs. Leur soif de sommets apporta néanmoins une nouvelle source de revenu aux montagnards. Habitués aux terrains difficiles, les paysans-bergers et les chasseurs de chamois devinrent les premiers guides de montagne, accompagnant les aristocrates et parfois les scientifiques vers les hauts sommets. Ainsi, la haute montagne devint attrayante pour les habitants du haut.

Dans les Écrins, on les appelait guides-paysans. Mais le statut du guide n’était pas celui d’aujourd’hui. Une grande partie des premières ascensions des Alpes furent signées par les alpinistes anglais, les guides locaux qui les accompagnaient restant dans l’ombre. Leurs noms ne figurent que rarement dans les récits des conquêtes.

Alpes Photographies

THE AGE OF GREAT CONQUESTS IN THE ALPS AND THE ECRINS

©T. Blais

The history of mountaineering in the region is rich in exploits and tragedies. The ascent of Mont Blanc in 1786 marked the beginning of this adventure, followed by the conquest of the Matterhorn in 1865, marked by a fatal accident.

The peaks of the Écrins come into play later, as the massif is more remote and difficult to access than the Chamonix area.

In 1864, a year before the Matterhorn, Edward Whymper climbed the Barre des Écrins. To reach the foot of the Barre, he first crossed the Col du Galibier to descend to La Grave. The following day, he climbs the wall opposite his hotel, Les Enfetchores, to reach the brèche de la Meije and descend to La Bérarde. From there, he continues on to the Col des Écrins.

Reverend Coolidge trekked the Écrins between 1870 and 1898, initially in the company of his aunt Margaret Brevoort. Their objectives were La Meije, the Barre des Écrins and Ailefroide.

The Meije an object of envy

At La Grave, Villar d'Arène and the Col du Lautaret, there's one peak that catches the eye of all passers-by. It's the majestic profile of La Meije, whose Grand Pic rises to 3,983 m and dominates the upper Romanche valley.

La Meije was the last of the great Alpine peaks to be climbed, after years of failed attempts by British climbers accompanied by Swiss or Savoyard guides. At the time, it was considered the most difficult summit in the Alps.

Its proximity to the village encouraged climbers to attempt the Meije via the north face, which is clearly visible from La Grave itself. However, the routes on the north face proved too difficult for the equipment and techniques of the time. It was only when attention turned to the south face, above La Bérarde, a hamlet of Saint-Christophe-en-Oisans, that attempts began to bear fruit.

focus on The 1st ascent of La Meije

In 1870,

Coolidge, Brevoort and their Swiss guides, Almer et fils, successfully climb the Doigt de Dieu (La Meije Centrale 3973 m), only to discover on arrival that it is not the highest peak in the massif. The Grand Pic seemed inaccessible.

Despite this, Coolidge made a second attempt in 1876, via the south face and then the west ridge.

That same year, a local guide joined the race for the summit. Pierre Gaspard, a country guide and hunter from Saint-Christophe-en-Oisans, first attempted the climb with a young geographer from Grenoble, Henry Duhamel, and guides from Chamonix. They gave up at the end of a couloir, at the point that would later be called Pyramide Duhamel. In front of them was a smooth slab that seemed impassable.

In August the following year,

a young nobleman from the South of France, Emmanuel Boileau de Castelnau, convinced Père Gaspard to make another attempt. Together with Gaspard's son, they set off from La Bérarde on August 4, 1877, and succeeded in crossing the 20 m slab by removing their inflexible shoes to take advantage of the holds offered by the smallest cracks in the rock. Since then, the slab has been known as the Muraille Castelnau.

Forced to descend as night approached, they returned to the task on August 16, 1877. On that day, they reached the final ridge and crossed the last projection to find themselves the first climbers in the history of mountaineering to reach the top of the Grand Pic, at 3.30pm.

Unlike today's mountaineers, they came down the ascent route and, caught by bad weather, spent a hard night bivouacking below the summit before reaching the valley.

La Meije is the exception to the rule for British first ascents, as in the end, a French roped party wins.

But when Coolidge wrote his Guide du Haut Dauphiné in 1887, he attributed the climb to Emmanuel Boileau de Castelnau. His guide, Père Gaspard, is not mentioned.

©Aurélien Papa

Michel DUCROUX

©T. Blais

Some Mountaineering races...

In the mountains, you are the sole guarantor of your own safety. Mountaineering is a high-risk sport that involves you and your climbing companions.

We strongly recommend that you set off with an experienced guide (or not) for a safe introduction. You should also consult recent guidebooks and take along the appropriate safety equipment.

Mountaineering schools

As part of the Villages d'Alpinisme des Écrins project, La Grave guides have equipped three new routes for training rock climbing techniques: the Fréaux ridge, the Peyrou d'Amont ridge and the Pierre Aiguille ridge.

A new guidebook is available from the La Grave Guide Bureau.

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