La Grande Trace Dévoluy, two days of alpi trail as a pair

Two days, two stages, one rule: helmet and harness. La Grande Trace Dévoluy summer took us through chourums, up ridgelines that give you vertigo, and back into a massif we thought we already knew from the chalet — arms and poles included.

Stage 1 — Rocher Rond, the chourum and the Écrins ridge

Start from the Col du Festre, as a pair, helmets on. The first big sensation of the day is the chourum: we drop into this natural cavity of the Dévoluy, daylight closing behind us before flaring back into view at the exit — a real airlock between two worlds, and it was only the first of the weekend’s two.

But the highlight of this stage is the ridge section. The trail narrows to a thin line above the void, clouds occasionally cling to the rock, and up there the panorama opens onto the whole ring of mountains surrounding the Dévoluy — with the Écrins massif on the horizon in the distance. That is the passage we keep coming back to.

Stage 2 — Bure, the dark chourum by headlamp

The next day, start from Superdévoluy for the loop towards the Bure summit. We expected our legs to remember the day before — 2,200 m of climbing leaves a mark — but they held, despite the morning’s apprehension.

This stage’s chourum has nothing in common with day one’s: we enter it still in the dark, and the climb inside is done by headlamp, in complete blackness, for about five minutes. Impossible to guess what is waiting at the end — noticeably more impressive than the previous day’s underground passage.

The rest of the stage delivers on its promise: scree, a long ridgeline facing the Bure summit, and the satisfaction of having finished both days, as a pair, without faltering.

Elevation profile

Stage 1 — Rocher Rond, 29 August

Stage 2 — Bure, 30 August

In pictures — stage 1 then stage 2

GPX tracks: stage 1 and stage 2, official routes of La Grande Trace Dévoluy, published with the organiser’s permission.