Southern Ecrins: Vallouise and Ailefroide Hikes

Five days on the southern flank of the Ecrins national park, the largest national park in mainland France. The route starts at Vallouise, a mountain village whose church preserves fifteenth-century frescoes, reaches Ailefroide, the historic base camp of French mountaineering, then the Pre de Madame Carle and the Glacier Blanc refuge at 2,542 metres, facing the Barre des Ecrins at 4,102 metres, the only entirely French four-thousand-metre summit outside the Mont Blanc massif. Lac de l'Eychauda at 2,514 metres and the wild Freissinieres valley close the route. The Glacier Blanc has retreated more than a kilometre since 1980, visible on the markers set along the path. Book park refuges from spring onwards.