Grande Sure Combe De La Pierre Taillee

Hiking -> Routes -> Chartreuse -> Grande Sure Combe de la Pierre Taillee

Description

Follow the same route from les Grollets as for the Grande Sure Portail du Chorolant until you reach the forest trail at the spot marked Moulin (mill). Instead of climbing higher follow the forest road to the south on a gentle climb. You will see a distinctive Chartreuse cross on the right after about 1km then a small foresty hut. Above the Rochers du Sappey you will see a path climbing up through the forest on the left. This is marked as the end of the trail on the IGN map but in fact it continues dead ahead then doubles back to recross the path to the left some 100 meters higher up. The path leads almost directly up the slope to the combe de la Pierre Taillee and is marked with large yellow marks on trees every 50m or so. If you lose these retrace. At around 1400 meters the path turns north-east to pass through a narrow rock passage then into a wide bowl. After a steepish climb through the bowl the path exits onto the gentlers wooded slopes below the chalet de Jusson. Here it turns south-east to reach the Chalet. You can climb to the summit via the cheminée de Jusson.

Trip Reports

27th October 2007 - Picnic at Hanging Rock

The Grande Sure is the Ayres rock (Uluṟu) of the Dauphiné. A hulking mass of limestone rising out of the high Chartreuse plateau. In the high summer it seems almost benign with groups of hikers wandering about the summit although the couloirs and cliffs should always be treated with the upmost respect. Out of season it takes on another aspect. I'd last come this way in November 2006. A clear sunny day but even at noon the lazy autumn sun hung low in the sky casting long shadows in the forest. Wisps of wind brought the occasional sound from the valley below, the bark of a dog, crows nesting in the trees. Then as I climbed higher, the ghostly chatter of far off children. Were they real voices or just the wind blowing through the bare branches? Hard to say. The place has a mysterious presense. Above the Chalet du Jusson there is a rock with a small but elaborate iron cross in memory of young Irma Moirant. She had died at the spot early last century but I know nothing of her short life or tragic end. I noticed that she shared a name with a character in Joan Lindsay's mystery: The Picnic at Hanging Rock in which a group of schoolgirls vanishes in the Australian outback. The coincidence seemed spooky.

We had come to climb the Aiguillettes but with visibility around 50 - 100 meters were not sure which couloir this was. We explored a complex at point 1857m on the IGN map but after scaling some very steep grass and rock slopes were blocked by a steep cliff wall of some 30 meters height. Without ropes and harnesses we wouldn't be able to go further. You are advised to carry climbing hats in these couloirs and apart from the Chiminee du Jusson (couloir west of the Grande Sure) an ice axe is a good aid.

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