Minimum altitude: 204 meters
Distance: 24.2 km
Slope Aspect: South
Vertical Climbed: 535 meters (1,755 feet)
Vertical Descended: 576 meters
Rating: 3
La Tour des Chiens
The fortified house of Arvilliers, known as the "Tour des Chiens", stands at the foot of Mont Saint-Eynard in the Chartreuse region, at an altitude of 530 m. The Tour des Chiens overlooks the town and the Grésivaudan valley, offering sweeping views of the Belledonne mountain range, Taillefer, Grand-Serre, Obiou and the Vercors cliffs. Perched on a promontory, the Tower of the Dogs fulfilled the goals sought by the builders of fortified houses in the Middle Ages: protection, observation and signalling. This watchtower enabled its occupants to communicate using optical signals. The estate was called "d'Arvilliers", after the powerful Arvillars family, allied to the Dauphins and the House of Savoy, who owned it in the late Middle Ages. whose crowned eagle now appears on the coat of arms of the town of Corenc.
Trip Report
I'd seen it was possible to link the top of the Tour des Chiens road with Chantemerle via a very short gravel path so decided to climb the tour then loop around to the Col de Vence (or nearly). The climb via St Bruno is extremely steep and hard but after the Chemin de la Tour des Chiens is fairly easy, with a very good road surface but very busy with big SUVs given it goes nowhere. The gravel track was a steep descent then onto Chantemerle, which touches 18% in places. Climb time was close to 900 VAM.
Chilly, 11C at the foot of the climb.
