The Vercors plateau

Text and pictures © 2007-2010 Guillaume Dargaud
Last updated on 2009/04/19

"Lamest response ever to 'Let's toss for the crux pitch ?': 'I don't have a coin'."    — Martin Carpenter.

Mt Aiguille

Left: West face of Mt Aiguille as seen from the Aupet pass in late afternoon.

Right: The summit of Mt Aiguille with the Meije visible in the far background.

The Vercors plateau is one of those semi-legendary mountain places where weird stories mix it up with tales of heroism. This is where famed climber Lionel Terray fell off. It's where the french put up the strongest resistance to the Nazi during the entire occupation, to the point that the occupiers sent paratroopers to raze entire villages, inhabitants included. This is where climbing was born while Columbus was sailing across the Atlantic. This is where roads get carried off in landslides so big that they don't get rebuilt. This is where tunnels get appropriated by ravers for all night parties. This is where tourists can get lost and walk for 3 weeks before getting back to civilization.

Left: Mt aiguille seen from the Selle pass upon reaching the Vercors plateau itself.

Right: Very high resolution image of the sunset on Mt Aiguille, birthplace of climbing 5 centuries ago.

Left: Mt Aiguille as seen through a gash in the ridge of Parquet on the edge of the Vercors plateau.

Right: Alpenglow on the west face of Mt Aiguille.

Seen from Grenoble or from the west, the Vercors looks unreachable thanks to a continuous cliff blocking access to the plateau itself. And indeed from Grenoble you have 2 roads at the very north, and then nothing as you go south until you completely reach the other side, a good 100km farther. Just like the Chartreuse the main summits are not very high: 2346m for the Grand Veymont, 2284m for Moucherolle, 1901m for the Moucherotte right above Grenoble... Half of the plateau has no road making it a haven for hikers and mountain bikers.

Left: Moon crescent and Venus on the edge of the Vercors ridge.

Right: East face of Mt Aiguille under an ominous morning sky.

Above: Panorama taken from the edge of the Vercors plateau showing the Grand Veymont, highest summit of Vercors (2341m) and the distinctive Mt Aiguille (2087m). Grenoble is in the haze in the background between the two summits and the Devoluy is the range of mountains visible on the right.

Above: Morning panorama on Mt Aiguille and Grand Veymont from the summit of the Goutaroux.

Above: Mt Aiguille seen from the Parquet ridge in fresh snow.

Above: Mt Aiguille in the snow, separating the Taillefer (left) and the Devoluy (right).

Mt Gerbier

Left: Climbing on a minor cliff with a great view on the Devoluy at Gresse-en-Vercors.

Right: Scenic (and relaxing) bouldering.

Late June 2008. I have a week of work in Belgium doing satellite testing and trying to figure out system bugs in a system I've never even seen before. 18 hours a day, with just a few minutes tossed in to appreciate the local beers. I come back wasted on friday night and I'm supposed to have a potentialy life-changing full day job interview on monday after yet another plane ride, where they told me in advance 'to come well and rested', whatever that means... So Jenny is like, ok, let's go do a short route. Just 3 pitches of 6b, the rest being grade 4 or 5, it shouldn't take too long. So we start in full confidence at mid-day, also to avoid the scorching heat on this east face.

I open the guidebook for the first time at the base of the 'Fissure en arc de cercle' below the Gerbier crest: "This is where famed climber Lionel Terray died falling off the top grassy slopes". Puts you right into the mood.

Left: Crux move on the Couloir en Virgule. As I grapple desperatly to the fragile saplings for lack of better holds, I feel a sling underneath and pulled cautiously on it... until I can use it to pull myself up. Good thing I was being cautious as it is neck-tied to a pair of pitons hammered together into a flaring hole. Of course for Jenny I remove it to see how the move is supposed to be done. Can you believe she yelled at me afterwards when she found out about the sling ?

Right: Side view to the north of the Gerbier with Grenoble at the bottom of the valley.

Left: Jenny at the end of the last and most strenuous pitch: a long tiring crack that turns into a sequence of roof moves on slopers. Well protected but I came out of it wasted: not enough sleep and too much beer during the week. The upper pitches are easy but the rock is not so good and a few large rocks whizzed by too close for comfort.

Right: Summit of the Gerbier, already quite late in the evening. Now there's one km of ridge traverse with a few technical moves. We remove the rope after 100m as it's only good to waste time and drop rocks.

Right: The narrowest part of the ridge, and very exposed on both sides. Some moves to remember while we hurry to beat the sunset.

Left: Last technical move before the trail takes us back to the car. Just in time as with only one headlamp for the two of us it would have been dicey doing those exposed moves.

Right: The Gerbier ridge as a whole, seen from the 'double breche', where the trail heads back down to Prelenfrey. Strangely this trail is gone from newer maps. The Grand Veymont, highest summit of Vercors, is visible on the right while the Mt Aiguille, the most famous one, is on the left still bathed in sunlight.

So how did the job interview go after coming back in the middle of the night from the climb... Unfortunately I'm not allowed to say, having had to sign an NDA about it. Well, I'm blogging about it privately so far and it may end up on my blog at some point in the future, who knows.

Other activities in the Vercors

Left: Mt Aiguille, considered by many the birthplace of climbing after its first ascent in 142 by Antoine de Ville under orders from Charles VIII. I can imagine this nowadays, being ordered to climb a 5.14 before the end of the month...

Right: Kids going on a dog sled ride in the remote south Vercors.

Right: Corrençon, a friendly sport cliff on the plateau of the Vercors. The lower cliff is not that impressive but the top one, although harder, is well worth a visit if only for the view.

Right: There used to be a village on the left of the image. It was razed by a Nazi commando during WWII and all its inhabitants pulled from their beds and executed. Nobody lives there anymore, only a church stands watch to the atrocities of the past.

Left: The Chabrinel hut at the southern end of the Vercors. We got there after a day of biking through the entire high plateau. Only one hour of daylight left, what should we do ? There are 3 guys and a nice fire going on inside, but it's a short descent to reach a hotel at the Rousset pass...

Right: Going down towards the Rousset pass.

Left: Unfortunately when we get there everything is closed for the season ! We have to bike another 17km before we can find a restaurant and accomodation, exhausted.

Right: Bouldering at St Nizier, a lovely spot for an after-work outing. Unfortunately there isn't a huge quantity of boulder problems.

Left: Mountain biking through the woods of the Vercors.

Just above Grenoble

Left: A short ski trip on the Moucherotte, barely 20 minutes from Grenoble.

Right: The eastern side of the Vercors as seen from the Moucherotte, quite visible are the Mt Aiguille and the Grand Veymont.

Left: Brocken spectrum seen from Peak St Michel, right below Mt Blanc and the northern tip of the Belledonne range.

Right: Mirage disturbing the atmosphere of the Gresivaudan valley, in the direction of Mt Blanc.

Above: Panorama of the first december snows on the Moucherotte, the northernmost summit of Vercors located just above Grenoble (visible right between the clouds). Belledonne covers the left of the horizon, then the Taillefer and farther out if the Devoluy.

Left: The east face of the Vercors seen from the summit of Peak St Michel.

Right: Cross on the summit of Peak St Michel.

Left: Smoky Grenoble visible from Peak St Michel.

Right: Arc col and St Michel Peak right above smoky Grenoble. It's so close, no wonder I can ski it and be at work at 9 !

Grand Veymont

Left: East face of Grand Veymont, highest summit of Vercors at 2341m.

Right: Skiiing down the wind-swept slopes of Grand Veymont, almost always exposed to the rocks by the northern winds.

Left: Grand Veymont slope above the Vercors high plateau.

Right: Northern part of the Vercors visible during the descent of the Grand Veymont.

Left: Lone skier on top of one of the secondary summits of Grand Veymont.

Right: Powder snow on the descent of the Agnellerie.

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