How to get there:
The mountain is located in Vanoise National Park, the first national park in France,
established in 1963.
This report describes a route from the south-west. There may be alternative routes.
A point of reference is the city of Modane. Travel from here
to find parking just below the dam of the upper reservoir at location
N45.25464, E006.72314, elevation close to 2050 meter.
Route description:
This is a full day hike to a pretty high mountain. Some parties may prefer to stay the night
before in Refuge de la Dent Parachee or Refuge de la Fourmache, in order to get an early start
the next morning.
From the parking, follow the road (no public driving) as it climbs then continues on the west (left) side
of the upper reservoir. North of the reservoir, leave the road
on a well signed/marked trail and continue
east to Refuge de la Fourmache. Just before this refuge, turn north aand uphill and follow the nice
trail as it climbs to Refuge de la Dent Parrachee. This is about one hour.
From the refuge, take the trail north-west that climbs the nearby hill, then traverses in the same
direction in order to access the basin south of the peak. This route will cross north of the point named
Le Grand Chatelard, 2816 meter.
The terrain becomes more cumbersome as there are more rocks, it pays to stay with the trail, it is easy
to loose, keep looking for cairns that shows the best line. The best (trail) approach will make an ascending traverse
starting fairly close to the steeper slope on your left, into the large scree area south of
Col de la Dent Parrachee.
The next task is to ascend here in order to reach the col. Follow the trail uphill, it will get steeper
and less distinct. It there is snow, then crampons and ice axe must be carried and used. How long the snow
remains here will change from year to year, there was no snow on the route
in August 2023.
Continue up the middle until you reach a point from where you can make an ascending traverse to gain the
small saddle immediately on the uphill side of the
very pronounced rock that stands in the middle, see picture.
The scree mixed with some larger rocks are not nice ascending in the upper part,
before you start this trabverse left. it keeps sliding down and causes
slow progress.
You will then cross (going left) a short section of solid rock,
however, there are good foot placements and this traverse should
not be difficult.
Once you gain the uphill side of the big rock formation, most difficulties on this scree slope are behind you.
Follow the pretty nice, zig-zag trail directly uphill to gain the col.
From the col, follow the trail along the ridge (going right). First on the left side, then a bit on the right.
The trail follows a pretty clever line avoiding difficulties. You enter a gully where one should be aware
of possible rocks from climbers above (wear a helmet). One may prefer to scramble on good rock slightly on
the right side when facing uphill. The route will emerge into the summit area, all that remains is to keep
left, then ascend a final, gentle slope to the short summit ridge.
There are two almost equally high points
only a short distance apart. One should keep note of the place where the route came up onto the summit area,
in order to find the way back down without any difficulties. The entire climb does not exceed (YDS) class 2+,
however, this is a big mountain and a long route.
Comments:
I was based in Montgenevre, not completely ideal. In order to get to the trailhead, I first had
to drive into Italy, then take the (expensive) Frejus tunnel (13 kilometer) connecting back to the
city of Modane. Thus, I decided to start early and left my hotel around 0500.
In the dark, I only followed driving instructions from my phone and I had not looked at the route
in advance. I was therefore a bit surprised when entering a 10+ kilometer tunnel (the Frejus tunnel) and even
mildly shocked when seeing a charge of Euro 52 pop up on my phone.
I arrived at the parking shortly before 0700, ready to leave by seven.
It was a very nice day indeed, perfect temperature, no wind. I walked to Refuge de la Parrachee in about one hour.
A brief stop there, I asked the staff about the snow conditions on the slope up to the col. If the snow was gone,
then I could leave my crampons and ice axe there. However, the staff said that crampons and axe were indeed needed.
OK, good to know. Next, they told me that I was way late, one should leave the refuge by 0400 in order to climb
this peak. Also, the climb should be done with harness and rope.
I also asked if any groups had left for the peak this morning, but informed that nobody would climb the peak today.
I told them that I was faster than most, that a 0800
departure would be ok.
leaving around 0810, I continued towards the base of the scree slope. Easy to loose the trail, I was off several times, but did
find the trail when starting a climbing traverse into the scree area.
The scree got steeper and looser the higher I got. Near the top, before I could start traversing left, the climb
was rather uncomfortable, not only did the rocks I stepped on slide downhill, but everything around me as well.
I was relieved when finally crossing solid rock, then traversing to gain the mini-col behind the big rock formation.
A short break was in order. Clearly, the staff at the refuge were all wrong in their advise. No snow on the route.
I decided to cache my crampongs and axe here, no need to carry extra weight. Since I was also alone on the mountain,
I decided to cach my helmet as well.
The climb from here to the big col above was rather easy. A pretty good trail and no sliding scree.
I continued to follow the route up along the ridge and into the gully. There, to my big surprise,
I spotted a guide with a short rope to a woman that followed behind. Clearly, they must have ascended
a differnt route. I realized that I should have brought my helmet, scrambling a bit more
right, I tried to minimize the chance of having a rock come my way. No rocks were released and I soon
caught up with and passed the two. She looked quite tired, moving pretty slowly.'
I continued to the summit, what remained was pretty easy terrain. The summit consisted of two points, quite
close together. The rightmost location had
a small, wooden cross,
while the left point was marked with a small
cairn of rocks. The time was 1200 - noon, so 5 hours from the car including the break at the refuge and some
shorter breaks along the way. Nice weather and good views. Mont Blanc is always nice when it can be seen,
I also had a clear view all the way back down to the reservoirs
and the trailhead area. The sharp peaks
in the Barre des Ecrins range another good view.
I spent 30 minutes on the summit, very nice and very quiet. I did notice a shaddow that swept across, thinking
it was caused by one of the clouds, however, when this happened again, I looked up and to my big surprise a
para-glider circled just above me. I waved and said hello, he signaled back. I have no idea where he originated,
must have found a good updraft to get above this summit. He gradually descended towards some valley, then disappeared.
I finally decided to start my descent, the time was already 1230.
Surprisingly, the guide and the woman had not joined me on the summit, I had already descended a bit before I met
them. She was even more tired now, I tried to encourage, saying that not much ascent remained.
Descending back down to the col was quite easy, so also the top slope back to the rock pinnacle where I had
left axe, crampons and helmet. The remaining scree slope was also obviously much easier going down. I continued
back out of the basin and picked the higher trail when out of the rocks and in the area with grass.
Slightly surprising, this trail contoured across the hill above the refuge, but did not lead there. I therefore
descended more or less directly back down to the refuge without any trail.
I was there at 1500, so 2:30 down. Several people there enjoying the nice weather. I was quite thirsty and had
a radler (mix of beer and soda), then a second one. Leaving at 1530, it took me another 45 minutes back down to
the car. A full day, altogether pretty perfect.
Driving back, I was not looking forward to another 52 Euro tunnel toll, however, driving around the tunnel
would take 1:30 hours more. Thus, I was very happy to notice that they only charged 10 Euro if you could prove
that you already made a crossing that day. I had the receipt and felt lucky driving back to Montgenevre where
a nice evening and dinner waited.
