Grand Morétan

Warning
Information on how to reach the starting point, as well as details regarding difficulties, alternative routes and precautions to take, are grouped under the sections ‘Practical information ’ and ‘During the hike’. Any difficult hike requires preparation, and this very difficult hike is no exception

Route

^GR®® 738 marked in red and white

(S/E) From La Bourgeat Noire, follow the^GR®® which takes the track heading south-southeast. Ignore the track branching off to the right shortly afterwards and continue past the Plan shelter. The track then turns into a path that follows the Gleyzin stream upstream, still heading south-southeast. Upon reaching the foot of a scree couloir, known as the Pertuis, the path winds its way up to the east to reach a level track.

(1) Ignore the path heading north towards the Chalet du Vay and follow the level path heading south, marked GR^®®. After crossing the Gleyzin stream bed and making a slight bend to the north, it climbs up to a flat area where the Oule ruins and a signpost are located

Yellow markings

(2) Follow the direction indicated by the sign for the Refuge de l’Oule (the other sign points to Lac Léat), and take the path that climbs the left bank of the Gleyzin, first south-east, then winding its way north-east, to reach the refuge.

Sporadic fluorescent orange circles

(3) Pass the refuge and continue south on the path marked with fluorescent orange dots until you come to steeper slopes. The path then veers left to go round the obstacle (southeast then south) and the markings disappear. After a steep climb, you reach a flat area in the scree, at around 2150 m.

Cain

(4) From this flat area, there is no longer really a path. Climb by sight south-eastwards over boulders and scree towards a narrowing between a moraine on the right and the foot of a rocky spur on the left (visible in this location photo ).

Once you reach the base of this spur, at around 2300 m, climb up its southern base to enter the couloir leading up to the Cols du Gleyzin directly from the east. After a flat section, head to the right-hand side of the couloir and note a small pass on the left; see this reference photo.

(5) Ignore this pass (it is a crossing point for a variant described below) and climb up towards the pass to its right; see the same location photo to reach it.

(6) From the pass, the summit you are aiming for is visible at the end of its ridge.
If snow conditions allow, pass through the boulders to the left of the pass (north) to maintain altitude (otherwise descend a few metres) and go round a rock outcrop on the left, then climb diagonally upwards to the east-northeast towards the ridge. Reach the ridge by aiming for the summit of a rocky spur at 2646 m (see the same reference photo ). From there, the ascent to the summit along the ridge is merely a formality.

(7) From the summit, the descent follows the same route as the ascent, down to the car park (S/E). See the variant below for an alternative route.

🅿️ Park at the Bourgeat Noire car park in Gleyzin, N 45.335348° / E 6.119641°. It is possible to drive a little further along the track leading south towards Plan de la Combe Grasse, where there is an unmanned shelter.

💧Water is plentiful up to the Oule refuge but becomes scarcer thereafter.

🦮 Dogs are allowed in this part of Belledonne. It is best to keep your dog on a lead so as not to disturb the wildlife and livestock.

🥾The hike is classified as Very Difficult due to the route being mainly off-trail and the significant elevation gain.

☀️ Best undertaken in good weather to ensure easy navigation. In foggy conditions, a GPS or compass is essential between (4) and (5).

⛺️ The hike is short and not suitable for camping. Furthermore, the Gleyzin glacial cirque is rarely sunny. However, you can stay at the Oule refuge (3).

⛏️ Standard hiking kit is sufficient. Before summer, ice axes and crampons may be necessary to climb to the pass and then to the summit, and in any case provide reassurance for those less comfortable on steep snow slopes.

⏰ The aspect allows for a relatively late start (after sunrise).

🧭 Navigation is easy in good weather, but a GPS — or, of course, the Visorando app — is recommended.
- The right and left banks are always defined in the orographic sense, i.e. relative to the direction of water flow.
- A tributary is a stream or watercourse feeding into a lake (the opposite is an outlet).
- Upstream is the direction towards the top (the mountain), downstream is the direction towards the bottom (the valley).
- The sun-facing slope is the side that receives the sun; the north-facing slope is its opposite.

🆘 There is only one emergency number in France: 112. Other numbers (15, 17, or direct numbers…) have no priority on mobile networks, do not switch to other operators’ networks when there is no signal, and in the event of an overload of calls, ongoing calls are cut off to prioritise 112. So forget about them as soon as possible; they are dangerous and no longer serve any purpose (contrary to what some outdated training materials claim). If you cannot speak or hear, use 114 to communicate via text message. 112 works on any mobile phone (and landlines, of course), including on a locked phone and even if the SIM is blocked (however, since 2004, France has been in breach of European recommendations and blocks calls to 112 when there is no SIM in the phone. This blocking has required special investment, as the GSM standard naturally allows calls without a SIM card. Taxpayers will appreciate this particularly clever use of public funds).

⚠️ Please note: if your call is cut off, it is your responsibility to call the emergency services again: they have no way of contacting or locating you if your network provider does not provide coverage. Remember to note down your GPS coordinates before calling, as the French government has still not deigned to equip mountain rescue centres with AML (Advanced Mobile Location) technology, despite this having been made mandatory by the EU since 2018.

📱In the mountains, switch your phone to 2G: the range of this technology is 4 to 8 times greater than that of newer technologies, and it uses significantly less power. Remember to switch off your Wi-Fi, which drains the battery quickly and serves no purpose outside homes and offices. ? Bear in mind that your phone’s GPS tracking works even in flight mode (GPS has nothing to do with mobile phone signals).

✅ Checklist
☑︎Essential in addition to standard hiking gear
☑︎helmet (because of the chamois and ibex below the pass)
☑︎1.5 L water bottle

☐optional
☐telescopic or non-telescopic poles
☐ice axe (for the pass and summit at the start and end of the season, or if it gives you confidence on a steep snow slope)
☐crampons (ditto: go with the ice axe)

☒not required
☒climbing equipment
☒rope (unless you know exactly how to use it without risking dragging your rope partners down with you)

⚠️ Generally speaking, remain critical of IGN topographic maps (from experience, the institute never corrects reported errors, even after serious accidents caused by these errors). The base maps of the IGN topographic maps date back more than 25 years and have not been updated since (!). The free OpenStreetMap, updated by volunteers, is usually much more up to date; it is best to consult its OpenTopoMap version, which is easier to read.

Alpine wildlife is present, particularly chamois, ibex, marmots and vultures, but the north-facing slope of the Gleyzin glacial cirque does not attract them much. They are therefore more likely to be seen beyond the pass (6).

The entireChartreuse rangeGrand Morétan summit The views from the summit are splendid. To the north, the view extends to the Pic du Frêne, Mont Blanc and the Grandes Jorasses, which lie ahead of the Valais Alps, where the Grand Combin, the Weisshorn, the Dent Blanche, the Dent d’Hérens and the Matterhorn are clearly visible. To the west, the entire Chartreuse range is visible. To the east lie the Vanoise, the Cerces, the Écrins and the Grandes Rousses. This spherical panorama is interactive and allows you to view the peaks visible from the Grand Morétan. However, the resolution is not high enough to make out the Matterhorn. Higher-resolution photos are available in this public album, which allows you to view the Swiss peaks.

Arrival below the Cols duGleyzinThe small pass on the alternative route and the Col Nord du Gleyzin
The most interesting alternative route involves passing via the Col Morétan. To do this, once you reach the glacial plateau at (4), head due east on level ground towards the pass situated to the left of the rock outcrop beneath the Pointe du Gleyzin (the photo on the left shows this rock outcrop viewed from higher up on the main route). A few cairns vaguely mark the obvious route. At the Col Morétan, head off again south-south-west, keeping level, and cross steep but well-gripped rocky slopes, the aim being to climb a maximum of twenty metres whilst heading for the south-west spur of the Pointe du Gleyzin. A pass (photo on the right, view from the other side, from the couloir leading up to the Col du Gleyzin) allows you to switch to the couloir leading to the northern pass of the Gleyzin.

Personally, I prefer to do this variant in the opposite direction, descending from the Col du Gleyzin to climb back up to the pass and then on to the Col Morétan.

From the Col Morétan, it is possible to descend via the Aup du Pont and then rejoin the^GR®® 738 in the Veyton valley, but this adds nearly 10 km to the hike.

? Explanation of a few terms:

• ‘aup’ or ‘aulp’ refers to an ‘alpe’, i.e. a place where herds graze in summer.
• A cairn is a pile of stones used as a landmark along a route. You can add cairns if you are sure of the route, and it is useful to replace stones that have fallen from a cairn.
• A combe is a relatively wide valley or the hollow of a fold in the terrain.