This year we returned again to the Briançonnais region in Hautes-Alpes for our winter/spring vacation. However, we did not stay in the Serre Chevalier valley as we usually have done, but booked the accommodation in the village of Villar-Saint-Pancrace in a different river valley, namely that of Durance, which by the way is the longest river in France that does not have a department named after it. Our plan was to drive daily to different Nordic skiing domains — actually a day before leaving we found out that there were, or rather had been, Nordic skiing tracks in the very village we were staying in — but ended up doing zero skiing because of the poor snow conditions. Instead we did a lot of hiking.
Our vacation had quite a catastrophic beginning. All went well until reaching La Grave, about ten kilometers before Col du Lautaret (a mountain pass at 2057m), and about 40 kilometers from our destination. There the wind grew suddenly strong and we saw the first snowflakes. We continued driving. Soon the conditions deteriorated drastically and we were met with a major blizzard. The visibility dropped very quickly to almost zero and cars were crawling to both directions at less than walking speed, slipping and sliding all over. Then the traffic came to a complete halt. Some driver got out to put chains on. We contemplated a while, and decided to turn back, when we still could. It only got worse. We couldn’t even see the hazard flashers of the vehicle few meters in front of us. Luckily the gendarmes had gotten there quickly to help stranded motorists (thanks for getting us off of the snowbank!). When back home we learned that Col du Lautaret had been closed. It was still closed the next day, when we took another route to our vacation destination. Thereafter we enjoyed a lot of sunshine — no cloudy days during the whole week — with daytime temperatures climbing from morning’s just above zero to +10°C in a couple of hours and then up to +20°C in the afternoon.
Our first hike (9.3K in 3h, D+/D- 530m) left from our doorsteps and took us to the slopes above the village. We mostly walked in snow, which was not that difficult, since it wasn’t deep or icy — actually the path followed a forest road and it had been plowed at some point — and the slope was gentle, but it got our boots wet. We stopped at La Chapelle Saint Laurent that was constructed in 1686, renovated in 1753 and 1976, and the wooden cross was erected in 1989; all these dates are marked on the base of the cross.
Our second hike (8.5K in 3h 40mins, D+/D- 600m) also left from our doorsteps, and first followed Chemin du Canal Neuf (trail of the new canal) in the valley and then climbed Sentier des Mineurs (trail of miners) to the forest. This hike also traveled in snow and it was much more difficult, since it followed a narrow and steep trail — no snow plowing had happened there and very few hikers had cleared the path. On the plus side, there were information boards telling the history of seasonal miners — farmers by summer, miners by winter — in the area. We also found remains of ancient structures, such as shelters and rails, along the trail.
Our third hike (8K in 2h 46mins, D+/D- 300m) around Mont Dauphin and its fortress designed by Vauban in the 1600’s — one of the several fortresses in this area designed by him — was quite different; there was no snow and despite being classified as intermediate in difficulty, we found it very easy. Only the final climb back to the top of Mont Dauphin was a bit tedious, but not really comparable to some of the hardest climbs we’ve done before. We finished the hike visiting the walled city inside the fortress. Since it was off season, the place was deserted and no shops or restaurants were open, but fortunately the restrooms were!
On our fourth hike (12K in 4h, D+/D- 650m) we found ourselves on snow again. This hike starting from the village of La Roche de Rame was called “A Circuit of Pink Marble” since it passed by an ancient marble quarry. Rock from this quarry was used in construction of the cathedral of Gap. The strange looking large rock was called “Le Rocher de la Femme” (“The Woman’s Rock”). This was supposed to be very easy hike, mostly traveling on a forest road, so we prepared accordingly and left in the running shoes. It wasn’t easy. The ascent was gentle but the descent was steep, and in between we walked a lot on icy snow. This of course was our bad, since even if the forest looked dry seeing from the bottom of the valley, there were deep patches of snow hiding where ever the road turned into the shadow of the mountain. After the earlier experiences we should have known better.
Our final hike (11K in 3h, D+/D- 280m) was truly an easy village hopping from La Vachette to Les Alberts to Le Rosier, and Val des Près and back in the Vallée de la Clarée about eight kilometers from Saint-Pancrace. It was actually a snowshoeing route, but there wasn’t enough snow for snowshoes, only some wet patches here and there. This was one of the places we had planned to come skiing, and we found a Nordic skiing domain on a perfectly flat plateau in Les Alberts. No snow, though. There was also a campground with nice cabins next to the skiing domain. So, now we have an idea what to plan for the next winter vacation!
Then it was time to go home. Even if Col du Lautaret was open again, we still chose to return on the longer route we came here, since the actual road conditions on Lautaret were unclear. And not only that, but the longer route via Gap and La Mure had much nicer and wider, and less curvy, roads. But before that, we went for a morning trail run.
I remember this lake in La Roche de Rame from our first drive from Grenoble to Briançon several years ago, and promised to return some day. And now we did to do the pink marble hike starting from there. The village itself isn’t anything special, but the lake was quite idyllic.
