Two days of adventure in the Pays des Écrins

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It is therefore with friends that we leave the urban hustle and bustle of Marseille to live a micro-adventure in the Pays des Écrins. Of the latter, we only know its highest point at 4102 m, the Barre des Écrins.

A hectic start to the Ailefroide via ferrata

We start the micro-adventure with a crossing of the Ailefroide gorges in via ferrata. The beginning is between the trees of a sloping dirt road overlooking the Gyr and quickly, the route throws us onto a rock face above the river.

A few walkways and bleachers later, the environment is transformed; A moss-covered canyon, 3 people wide and in which the light struggles to penetrate imposes itself. We cross it only a few meters above the water. A slope follows a rope bridge and a few dozen bars further, we leave the canyon.

We then leave for lunch on the banks of the Celse Nière stream, located in the Ailefroide campsite, where a peaceful atmosphere reigns.

From now on, it is the Entraigues valley that awaits us. We go to dinner at the Bans refuge, located under the eponymous summit at 3,669 meters above sea level. On this Monday evening in June, there is hardly anyone at the bottom of the valley, so the feeling of remoteness and solitude, already present in the Vallouise valley, is felt more here.

We go up to the edge of the Bans torrent and we notice that the rain of the past weeks has allowed the vegetation to obtain a bright green. In the distance, we see the refuge, discreetly installed on the mountainside. We also see two firns, which we soon cross. After this final stage, we arrive at the Bans refuge.

The panorama is exceptional. On one side, the Entraigues valley, with a view of the firn, the lush vegetation and the blue sky at the end of the day. On the horizon, the peaks bordering the Haute Durance valley have their heads in the clouds. On the other side, the mineral crown composed of the Pic de Bonvoisin, the Pic Jocelme and the Sommet des Bans is very imposing but creates a comforting atmosphere.

There will only be about fifteen hikers and mountaineers at dinner at the refuge tonight, and our group of four will be the only ones to leave after the meal. As the summer solstice approaches, the light will allow us to go down at 9 p.m. without headlamps.

The next day, we set off again by electric bike from Argentière-la-Bessée, towards the bottom of the Freissinières valley, at the foot of Dormillouse. It was the first time that we had used an electrically assisted mountain bike and we noticed that the 6 kilometres and 250 metres of elevation gain were easy to cover to reach the Freissinières plain.

On our left, we enjoy the view of the Durance valley, the Gourfouran chasm and the surrounding peaks. We go up the plain in the shade of the fir trees of the Bois de Monsieur on the right bank of the Biaysse – this river that shapes the valley before joining the Durance – to then take a lunch break followed by a well-deserved micro-nap.

We continue our way to the bottom of the Freissinières valley, framed by waterfalls that tumble down the surrounding peaks. Here, the road stops giving way to paths that lead to Dormillouse, the only inhabited hamlet located in the heart of the Écrins National Park, at an altitude of 1700 meters, where less than 5 people live year-round.

On the way back, after a descent by bike on the rugged paths of the Bois de Monsieur, we stop at the hamlet of Pallon to taste the Elixirs d’Isabelle. A visit to its gardens organized in balconies, where dozens of aromatic plants, flowers and trees grow, invites you to discover them and learn to recognize them: genepi, larch, hyssop, lemon verbena and many others.

The atmosphere at the end of the day is particularly pleasant, the light warms up and the gardens exude a fantastic serenity. We proceed to the tasting punctuated by Isabelle’s passionate explanations, before leaving for Argentière-la-Bessée to end this singular micro-adventure in the Pays des Écrins.