Copyright: © 1998 - 2008 John Gardner
| A Walking Guide to the Massif de la Chartreuse |
Grand Som from la Correrie
| Starting point: la Correrie | Difficulty: 2 | Ascent: 1270 m | Time: 7 hrs | Quality: *** |
This walk ascends Grand Som from the west (map). It ascends the western flanks above the monastery, traverses the summit ridge, and descends from the head of the St. Bruno valley, which is followed back to the car. The time assumes the full round trip. It is the classic route on Grand Som, and if you have time for just one ascent of the mountain, it should be by this route.
La Correrie may be found by following the D520b from St. Pierre de Chartreuse towards St. Laurent du Pont for 3 or 4 km, and turning right up the St. Bruno valley towards the monastery. This road loops round back to the museum, where a parking area made available for walkers may be found at the back.
This traditional route up towards the Grand Som has been de-emphasised by the Regional Nature Park, so care should be taken to ensure finding the right way. There is a path leading from the car park, labeled Evocations et Empreintes. We need to follow this for about 50 minutes along a variety of old paths, new paths, and forestry tracks, always following the sign posts. Take note of a junction signed as being at 1,100 m - our return route brings us back to this point from below. After 45 minutes or so, the route, which is following an old section of path at this stage, crosses a forestry slide, veers round some large boulders, and heads up a short section of zig-zags. Immediately beyond this, a path may be found on the right, heading up and back. This is the way up to the col du Frenay, and is the all-important junction. Miss this path, and you will find yourself on a tedious traverse around the flank of the hill.
Turn up the new path, which ascends easily in a series of sweeping zig-zags, to arrive on the ridge after about an hour. From the ridge, follow the path round to the left, and after a few minutes you'll pass the way down to la Coche on the right.
The true col du Frenay (1580 m) is reached in ten minutes, and after a further five minutes or so, the path crosses to the west of the ridge, to continue its ascent beneath limestone cliffs. Marmots abound here; their burrows lie alongside the path, and they can be heard screaming their warnings from their rocky vantage points. Near the top of the scree the path swings round to the right, across a system of ledges, and up some small crags as it rises once again to the ridge. There is some exposure here, and the use of hands is required. The col at the top is known as la Suiffière (1798 m).
From here, there are two routes to the summit. If you have a reasonable head for heights, and conditions are dry, you can follow an exhilarating scramble along the ridge (Grade 2), which makes an uncompromising bee-line for the summit.
The other route drops down a few metres from the ridge, and then traverses pleasantly across the rocky flanks of the hillside. The flora in this area is outstanding. Twenty minutes after leaving the ridge, you meet a path coming up from the right, which is the route down towards the col du Coucheron. The path then enters a rocky gully, and when it exits, ascends the steep flank to the summit cross, which is reached some 45 minutes after leaving the ridge. It has taken us about 3½ hours to reach this point from the car park.
The summit is a good place for lunch. As you would expect, the views are superb, and below, to the south-west, you can see the monastery nestling in the secluded St. Bruno valley. Unfortunately, the summit is now the home of a very naff viewpoint station consisting of two halves of a concrete Chartreuse.
This walk is a round trip, so from the summit, continue along the ridge - which is well adorned with rock gardens. After 15 minutes, the path divides. Either path will do, but the lower path follows the Sangle des Moutons - a grassy terrace between the cliffs which passes through some nice rock scenery. There are some iron cables in places, but the protection they offer is not really required. One interesting feature is that for some distance it follows the line of the of the hanging-wall of one of the major Chartreuse thrust faults.
The two paths meet up after 20 minutes, and the combined route heads down towards the col du Bovinant (1645 m) reached after a further 15 minutes. Turning left down the valley reaches a water source at the shepherd's cabin - a good place to fill water bottles.
The path now makes its way steadily down into the St. Bruno valley. It passes a number of junctions, but the way down is always obvious. The second major junction met after 15 minutes is where we meet the Evocations et Empreintes trail again, which has been traversing the flanks of the hill through the forest since we last saw it. The path passes a chapel near the valley floor, becomes a road with hard core chippings, and before long the monastery hoves into view. It has taken a couple of hours to reach this point from the summit.
Follow the track behind the monastery which rises through the woods to rejoin the Evocations et Empreintes at the 1,100 m junction which we met earlier in the day. From here, it's simply a matter of retracig your footsteps back to the car, which is reached some three hours after leaving the summit.