Tête de Garnesier and Tour Carrée via the Durbon forest

(S/E) From the car park (see Practical Information), continue along the track, go through the barrier that follows the hairpin bend of the Torrent de l'Aup and continue north until you reach a wooden sign indicating the direction of Chamousset and the Col de Plate Contier on the right.

(1) From the sign, climb the steep path on the right bank of the Torrent des Chabottes. The path, marked with yellow lines, joins a road.

(2) Do not continue on the path opposite, but take the track and turn right to follow it until it disappears into the grass. Ignore the path climbing to the left and continue south-east on a flat section towards the Torrent des Chabottes to ford it. Continue along the path until you reach a wooden sign indicating the Tour Carrée on the right and the Col de Plate Contier straight ahead.

(3) At the sign, continue straight ahead south-east then east towards the Col de Platte-Contier (if you have lost your way on one of the old paths, you will not pass this sign but will arrive a little further on at a cattle gate at an altitude of 1585 metres: you must then turn left to rejoin the main path). The trail returns to the right bank of the Torrent des Chabottes before winding its way up through increasingly sparse forest to emerge at around 1,700 metres below the clearly visible pass. On the left, the Tête de Garnesier dominates to the north-west. Climb the last 200 metres to reach the Col de Plate Contier.

(4) On the north side of the pass, an old sign points towards Tête de Garnesier. Follow the path climbing northwards on the shoulder of Tête des Ormans before heading north-west across scree slopes, passing a cairn.

(5) This will take you to the small Pas de l'Agneau pass. The view of the peaks and the Vallon de l'Abéou is fantastic.

(6) From Pas de l'Agneau, continue along the path heading northwest. Cross a small ledge and continue under the ridge leading to the summit, staying on the left flank (southwest) in the scree, a few metres from the ridge line.

(7) From the summit, admire the eponymous rock opposite, then retrace your steps to the Pas de l'Agneau and the cairn you saw on the way up.

(5) At the cairn, turn left (east) and follow the path up through the scree to the summit of Tête des Ormans. Admire the view and locate the Tour Carrée ridge to the south, see this photo.

(8) From the summit, continue along this path which follows the ridge at the edge of the impressive cliffs overlooking the Vallon de l'Abéou to the north. The path quickly disappears into the grass, but reappears from time to time, always on the ridge. Follow the ridge in a circular pattern from east to west, descending into the meadows.

As you go, look for the next part of the route (see the photo of the Col du Grand Vallon).

Now descend due west towards the hairpin bend shown in the photo and cross the main path descending from the Col de Plate Contier.

(9) Do not turn back on this main path, but continue to the hairpin bend to the south-west, towards a cluster of pine trees. Pass under them to find a path that goes around the foot of the unnamed peak at 1978 metres and head for the highest path leading up to the Col du Grand Vallon. The Archers rocks are clearly visible on the left on the north side of the valley. Continue along the side of the valley to the pass

(10). At the Col du Grand Vallon, take the shoulder running south, staying on the path on its western flank. The path passes under a few pine trees and joins the ridge in magnificent meadows dotted with rocks shaped like archers' helmets. Continue along the shoulder to the Tête du Pin, where you have to pass the rocks, then on to the grassy promontory where a dead tree dominates the Col de Lautaret.

(11) At the promontory, turn around and locate the small, unnamed pass on the Tour Carrée ridge. Then retrace your steps to the Col du Grand Vallon.

(10) At the pass, take the path heading west, avoiding the descent into the valley and instead staying on the hillside to aim for the unnamed pass seen earlier. The path tends to disappear in the grass, so stay as level as possible. Below the unnamed pass, a series of gentle bends allow you to climb the slope and reach the small pass.

(12) At the small pass, a path begins to the west under the ridge, going around the hill at elevation 1864. Quickly return to the ridge, where no path is visible. Continue along this ridge, bordering high cliffs on the right (northwest) and increasingly steep grassy slopes on the left. Stay on the ridge until you reach the Tour Carrée. Then descend to the left (south) over rocky scree to quickly reach a good path.

Take this path and head right (west) to reach the Col du Vallon, 50 m from the Tour Carrée.

(13) Cross the pass and continue along the path which, after a few short hairpin bends, descends slowly to the north-west before a hairpin bend and comfortable hairpin bends to the north-east in the beautiful Durbon forest. ⚠️ The IGN map is incorrect in this area.
Return to the signpost seen on the way up.

(3) At the sign, turn left (north-west) to return via the ascent route to the car park (S/E).

Park at the Chabottes car park N 44.637046° / E 5.773725°: from Lus-la-Croix-Haute, head towards La Jarjatte then turn right at the hamlet of Les Corréardes and follow the Rioufroid Gorges forest road to its terminus. Use the shaded car park on the right-hand side of the road.

Water is relatively abundant in the Garnesier valley.

Dogs are allowed in this part of the Vercors, but the hike is tiring for their paws.

The difficulty of this hike is between "difficult" and "very difficult". It is possible to do it in the opposite direction (recommended if you want to leave after sunrise). The only difficulty is the off-trail section on the ridge of the Chabottes valley between (12) and (13).

In rainy weather, the slopes in the Garnesier and Chabottes valleys become very slippery.

The hike is short and not suitable for bivouacking unless you want to watch the sunrise or sunset from the summit (7). It is possible to bivouac there (small stone shelter 30 cm high).

Standard hiking equipment is sufficient. For those who want to watch the sunrise or sunset, a headlamp is essential. If there is still snow on the peaks, crampons and ice axes are essential.

⏰ At the beginning of the season, snowfields remain on the western slopes below the passes for a long time; in this case, set off early so that the snow is firm.

Orientation is easy, but you must trust the description: the descent to the Tour Carrée along the ridge (between (12) and (13)) can often give the impression that you are not making any progress.

⚠️ The trail route on the IGN map below the Col du Vallon is incorrect between the Tour Carrée (13) and the junction with the Vallon de Garnesier trail (3). The GPX track shows where the trail actually goes.

Alpine wildlife is present, with many vultures and chamois in particular.

The views from the summits and passes are magnificent. See this interactive spherical photo.

Several variations are possible.

At point (9), you can descend onto the main trail to pass through the Col de Lauteret to the south. From the pass, where there is a shelter, climb westwards onto the pine-lined shoulder to reach point (11). Before that, you can make a short round trip via the Plane du Pin (to climb up there, go straight east-southeast).

From the Col du Grand Vallon (10), a very beautiful alternative route is to climb the ridge to the north to reach the unnamed summit at IGN 1978m, where the view is superb. Then return to the summit shoulder and head directly for the small pass (12) without going back via the Cold du Grand Vallon.

A little alpine vocabulary: the word Aup (cf. torrent de l'Aup) means alpine pasture, i.e. grazing land. (sangle = level path on a steep slope, cairn = shorten, casse = scree, combe = valley, aup = alpine pasture)