La Tête des Lauzières

Access: at the southern junction of Briançon (on the Route des Grandes Alpes between the petrol station and the ski lift access point), take the D35 towards Puy-Saint-André and then Puy Chalvin. The road turns into a track. Head for the hamlet of Les Combes, pass through it, then park 1 km further on at the car park at the end of the track.

(S/E) Take the lane continuing from the track, then head for the junction at a hairpin bend (barrier, sign).

(1) Leave the lane, head uphill to the left and, after the picnic area (benches, tables), follow the lane to the right until you come to a sign 300 m further on.

(2) At the sign, turn left towards the Col de la Trancoulette. The well-marked path climbs through the
larch trees before emerging westwards into a valley. It curves widely to the left, heading south.
Follow a winding ascent in this direction to reach the Col de la Trancoulette.

(3) Take the path heading off horizontally to the right (south-west). You’ll come to two small lakes.
The path bends very slightly to the right (west-south-west) into the Peyre du Fey valley.
Climb up through the mountain pasture on this path, then follow the cairns towards the Col de Vallouise.

(4) 200 m before the pass, head off-trail to the left towards the south-east along the ridge line (i.e. where the slope is gentlest). This winding ridge then heads broadly south.
Follow the cairns and then, via a small path you’ll come across, make your way to the summit.
The summit, marked by a cairn, is situated on an almost horizontal ridge facing south-west, about 70 m from the start of the ridge.

(5) From the summit, retrace your steps to the start of the ridge.

(6) Descend to the right down the grassy terraces, skirting the scree slope that leads down from the summit towards a grassy plateau below the Pic de Montbrison.

Once you have reached this flat area, cross it so that you head onto the wide saddle linking the summit on the left to the Pic de Montrison (east).
Climb up this saddle, keeping as far to the right as possible towards the Pic de Montbrison.
Cross the boulders and then gradually veer to the left.

Descend through the pastures, keeping to the left (north-west) and then (north) towards the Col de la Trancoulette, which is visible from above.

Cross beneath the Tête des Lauzières; do not descend too far and do not cross the Trancoulette torrent.
You’ll come across one of these small summer pasture tracks leading back up towards the Col de la Trancoulette.

(3) From the pass, follow the route you took on the way up back down to your car park (S/E).

I’ve made a video, including the names of the peaks, which shows the route and the atmosphere of this walk.

The off-trail route shown here corresponds to the actual route I took, as I recorded the GPS track.
You can rely on it completely.
To save time on this off-trail section of the circular route, I recommend using GPS or a smartphone for navigation.
The Visorando app is excellent for this purpose.

As for the duration, taking the off-trail sections into account, allow at least two hours more than the time indicated by the software.

For those who want a shorter route, I recommend the alternative route, which is easier and almost entirely on paths.
Here are the details: a distance of 12.8 km with a total elevation gain of 1,075 m.

(5) From the summit, head straight back to your car park via the outward route in the opposite direction (S/E).

The duration indicated by the software is based on a rate of 350 m of elevation gain per hour.
You should recalculate this based on your own pace, the elevation gain and the distance.