Grand Aréa – Briançon
Description
The tour starts at the Bergerie Saint Joseph, just below the Col du Granon. Ideally, you’ll take a shuttle up to this point, or you can pedal all the way up from Briançon—a climb of about 800 meters in elevation—under your own power. From here, you circle around the Grand Aréa on a rough gravel road, reaching the Col de Buffère. There, the terrain changes to a singletrack, and you continue climbing to the summit. If you’re riding an e-mountain bike, you can complete almost the entire ascent by riding. Without the motor, you’ll have to push your bike up the path to the summit. At the top, the view opens up over the entire Briançon region, including the Écrins Massif across the valley. The descent on this route follows the southern trail, which is well-maintained and winds through very steep terrain. The trail is very slippery and technically challenging to ride, with a difficulty rating of S4. Caution: This is the main hiking route to the popular summit. The trail ends right at the Bergerie Saint Joseph, where the tour began.
In the second part, you climb up to the Col du Granon. The ride back to Briançon takes place exclusively on singletrack and begins right next to the parking lot at the pass summit. A smooth trail hugs the mountainside and winds down the southern slopes into a more forested area. Along the way, there are a few switchbacks; overall, the trail is rated S1 with some S2 sections. The route continues toward Briançon until you reach a gravel road near the village of Etieux. Follow this road uphill to the Croix de Toulouse, high above Briançon. Here, the view opens up onto the historic little town, but more importantly, this is where the final descent begins. A somewhat slippery S1 trail rides through the bone-dry pine forest down to Fort de Salettes and the highest houses in Briançon. To wrap things up, take a detour to Briançon’s picturesque and historic old town—the ideal place to end the tour with a cool drink.
Map & GPX-Track
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Details of the tour
26 km
1105 m
1940 m
1208 above sea level
2836 above sea level
1 day
Briançon
Briançon
3789
well suited
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About the author: Thomas Giger
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