Col de la Pisse from Chaillol 1600

Park at the start of the ski slopes at Chaillol 1600.

(S/E) Leave the resort via the hiking trails, passing under the chairlift.

(1) Turn right to go under the Selette ski lift, then follow it until you reach a fork.

(2) Continue straight on until you reach a fork.

(3) Ignore the path climbing to the left, continue along the track for about ten metres and cross the stream to the right^, following the^GR®® markings^. Very soon, leave the^GR®® at a three-way junction and climb to the left. A well-shaded climb beneath the larch trees. The vegetation is quite dense, but the path is wide. The slope is fairly gentle with numerous hairpin bends. Cross the Font Froide stream and continue in open country in a mountainous setting, with unobstructed views of the cirque. Reach a fork in the path.

(4) You will then come to a variant of^{the GR®®} de Pays Tour du Vieux Chaillol, and head right towards Col de la Pisse (35 mins). You will come to another fork.

(5) Leave the^GRP®® by heading up to the left. Cross the Torrent de la Pisse and arrive at a mountain pasture with a fairly new wooden chalet (watch out for mountain dogs in summer). Reach the Col de la Pisse.

(6) At the pass, continue to the right for about a hundred metres towards Vieux Chaillol.

(7) It is here, at an altitude of 2,354 m, that you will find the remains of the old canal, with the exit of the covered section and the large sandstone slabs covering it. Turn back, pass the Col de la Pisse, the first fork you passed on the way up, and reach the second fork, which you also passed on the way up.

(4) This time, continue to the right. The path descends very slightly, running along a ledge until the junction at the 2040m mark.

(8) Continue straight on and re-enter the forest and dense vegetation, but the view remains unobstructed. Reach another junction.

(9) Continue straight on and turn left to descend along the path, which continues as a track ending at a junction with another track.

(10) Take the forest track on the right towards Lac de Barbeyroux. You’ll reach a track junction at an elevation of 1,751 metres.
Alternative route: see the “Practical Information” section

(11) Head down to the left along a wide track that continues through the forest, eventually reaching a ski run. The descent is steeper as you are at the end of a ski run. Descend to the base of two ski lifts, then take the wide track that leads back down to the resort.

(12) Continue along the track and, after about a hundred metres, look out for the start of a path on the right.

(13) Take the path on the right and head down to the Abeil distribution basin.

(14) Retrace your steps back to the piste.

(13) Follow the track to the left for about a hundred metres.

(14) Turn right onto the path signposted “Canal de Malcros”: this is the same canal whose water used to flow through the Col de la Pisse. Return to the mini-golf course above the chairlift departure point and continue to the junction you passed on the way out.

(1) Turn right and return to the starting point (S/E).

Alternative route: from (10), you can turn left to descend more directly and on a gentler gradient to the centre of the resort (S/E). However, this route no longer passes through the distribution basin (14), which has been restored.

Excerpt from the Écrins National Park information boards at the start of the hike, regarding the forest you will be crossing between (3) and (5), then (8) and (10): a vast national reforestation programme.
From 1860 onwards, following repeated devastating floods caused by deforestation and overgrazing, the State bought land from the local authorities and entrusted its reforestation to the Water and Forestry Administration. This is how the Chaillol state-owned forest came into being. To supply the millions of larch and pine trees required, numerous nurseries were built on site. The workers lived there in wooden huts, but today only the name of the forest road and the presence of terraces still bear witness to their existence."

Not forgetting Malcros, a mountain irrigation canal:
"By decree of Napoleon III, from 1874 onwards, the Malcros Canal carried meltwater from the Malcros Glacier (2,800 m) to the Col de la Pisse (2,354 m), where it flowed down towards Chaillol and Saint-Bonnet. Along this route, subject to the harsh conditions of the high mountains, maintenance work was constant, difficult and costly. In 1923, discouraged, the inhabitants eventually abandoned the canal. The water gradually ceased to flow through it. Since then, the glacier itself has disappeared...

To find out everything about the Malcros Canal, visit the website of the Malcros 2818 association, which coordinates its preservation and restoration: http://www.canaldemalcros.com
or watch a very interesting video produced by the association: https://youtu.be/LIm_M5oryt4

The Chaillol1600 resort is one of the gateways to the Écrins National Park.