Tour of the Oisans - Walking the GR54

Guidebook to walking the 176 km Tour of the Oisans : The GR54 trek around the Dauphiné massif and Écrins National Park to the east of Grenoble in France. This popular walk on the GR54 is similar in quality to the celebrated Tour of Mont Blanc.

What is Europe’s toughest trek?
The general consensus of opinion usually names the GR20 high-level route across Corsica as the toughest of the Grande Randonnées, but with some justification the Pyrenean Haute Route – which teeters along the frontiers of France and Spain – gathers a lot of votes. Both are long and demanding, have sections without proper paths, and journey through remote country, often far from habitation. Yet there’s another long and challenging route that is also a contender for the title of Europe’s toughest trek. In places its route may not be quite as remote, nor its reputation as well known as those of the Corsican or Pyrenean treks, but it is undoubtedly tough and visually inspiring, with rewards aplenty for those who accept its challenge.

What is this route?
The Tour of the Oisans, also known as GR54.

Making a 10–13 day circuit of the Massif des Écrins (another name for the Oisans region) in the French Alps southeast of Grenoble, the Tour of the Oisans is similar in distance, and in the amount of time required to walk it, as the classic Tour of Mont Blanc. But there the similarity ends.
Vauban once described the region as having ‘mountains reaching for the sky, and valleys sinking to incredible depths’. This is precisely the country over which the Tour of the Oisans covers a distance of about 176km (109 miles), crosses 14 passes, and ascends a total of some 12,830m (42,063ft) in a little under a fortnight’s holiday. These are bald statistics, of course, and mean little until they are translated into the physical reality of walking the route. This reality may come as a surprise to those who have not previously experienced other Alpine routes. Even among mountains as high and rugged as those of the Massif des Écrins, tackling a long walk – or trek – would not normally imply that the act of scrambling was involved, yet several stages of the Oisans trek cross unprotected rocky sections, or follow narrow, exposed trails (some little more than ledges or grooves in the rock) safeguarded by fixed cable. Others slant across steep slopes of shale and grit where a slip could have serious consequences. And some of the cols are so narrow that one could virtually sit astride the ridge with legs dangling on either side!
It should be obvious then, that a clear head and sure-footedness are prerequisites of all who set out on the Tour of the Oisans.

Plotted in 1963 and waymarked by 1966, the trek is scenically uplifting, for the tour has been routed around one of the highest and most dramatic massifs in the Alps. On almost every stage you gaze upon wild and rugged mountains, look down into deep valleys, stride across pastures, contemplate lakes, streams or waterfalls, and enter regions of apparent remoteness. There are villages and tiny hamlets along the way, but no real ‘resorts’ worthy of the name. Almost every stage enters one such village or hamlet where accommodation can usually be found in a simple but welcoming gîte d’étape or small hotel. But there are also mountain refuges in out-of-the-way locations that offer a dormitory bed for the night, and provide a more authentic high-mountain experience for the trekker eager to sample such delights as watching the alpenglow burnish the nearby peaks with evening gold, or wake in the morning to find the refuge inhabits a pristine world above a sea of cloud filling the lower valleys. Such experiences will count among the highlights of a tour around the Écrins mountains.

THE ROUTE
The traditional start and finish of the Tour of the Oisans is the little town of Bourg d’Oisans, situated about 50km southeast of Grenoble in the Vallée de la Romanche. As it is usually tackled in a clockwise direction the first two stages work a way roughly eastwards well above the Romanche to gain spectacular views across the valley to La Meije and its neighbours.

From the very start it is a challenging route, for within a few paces of the first waymark a sloping rockface has to be surmounted by a series of narrow ledges equipped with fixed cables. Above this the way climbs to a string of small hamlets, then descends into the wooded Gorge de Sarenne before beginning a long uphill trek to the Col de Sarenne at 1999m.

On the east side of the col GR54 plunges steeply into the Vallée du Ferrand, then climbs again to the romantically attractive Besse-en-Oisans, a village of mottled stone houses crowded in a hidden valley. Above Besse the route climbs to Col Nazié, continues up a grass ridge to Col Bichet at 2245m, then crosses the vast pastureland of the Plateau d’Emparis where the 2365m Col du Souchet rewards with one of the great views of the Tour of the Oisans.

There follows a long – and at times steep – descent to the little mountaineering centre of La Grave in the Vallée de la Romanche then, having followed the river towards its source, a steady southeastward climb breaks away from the Romanche to gain Col d’Arsine at 2340m. Below lies the Vallée de la Guisane (which represents the eastern limit of the trek), with overnight accommodation available in either Le Casset or the township of Monêtier-les-Bains.

A brief confrontation with ski pistes and cableways on the haul up to Col de l’Eychauda gives way to more sublime landscapes, and a lengthy descent to the Vallée de la Vallouise at the southeastern corner of the massif. After a night spent in Vallouise the route heads west and southwest on a tough stage that crosses Col de l’Aup Martin and Pas de la Cavale in quick succession. Both cols are in excess of 2700m and located in remote country, but next day is even tougher, with three cols to tackle, two of which (Col de la Vallette and Col de Vallonpierre) have very steep descents to negotiate.

The southernmost point of the Tour of the Oisans being turned at Refuge du Pré de la Chaumette, the day of the three cols directs the route northwestward. Col de Vallonpierre gives access to the Vallée du Valgaudemar for a brief westerly turn, before the way climbs steeply north again to Refuge des Souffles and Col de la Vaurze to reach tiny Le Désert-en-Valjouffrey. This is gained by a precipitous descent, the hamlet’s rooftops being in view practically all the way from the pass.

From Le Désert the trend of the route continues northwards with the crossing of Col de Côte Belle leading to Valsenestre, another charming hamlet tucked between looming mountain walls.

The last part of the climb to Col de la Muzelle (2625m) on the penultimate stage can be brutal under certain conditions, but after a night spent in Refuge de la Muzelle a fairly short and undemanding ascent leads to the final pass, Col du Vallon, which carries the route over the mountains and down to the beautiful Lac Lauvitel – one of the highlights of the Tour of the Oisans. Below the lake it’s just a valley walk to Bourg d’Oisans and the end of the trek.

All the above follows the ‘official’ GR54 route of the Tour of the Oisans, but several alternative stages (variantes) exist, both official and unofficial, some of which are described as options within the main body of the text.