The Barre des Écrins () is a mountain in the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such a ...

with a peak elevation of . It is the highest peak of the

Massif des Écrins Massif des Écrins (; Écrins Massif) are a massif in the French Alps. They form the core of Écrins National Park in Hautes-Alpes and Isère.Dauphiné Alps The Dauphiné Alps () are a group of mountain ranges in Southeastern France, west of the main chain of the Alps. Mountain ranges within the Dauphiné Alps include the Massif des Écrins in Écrins National Park, Belledonne, Le Taillefer range ...

and the most southerly alpine peak in Europe that is higher than 4,000 metres. It is the only 4,000-metre mountain in France that lies outside the Mont Blanc Massif. Before the annexation of

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

in 1860 it was the highest mountain in France.

Geography

Location

The Barre des Écrins is the highest peak in the

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (commonly shortened to PACA), also known as Région Sud, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France, located at the far southeastern point of the Metropolitan France, mainland. The main P ...

region including all of

Occitania Occitania is the historical region in Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasses much of the southern third of France (except ...

and the Southern Alps. It is located in the commune of Pelvoux and is situated near the

Drainage divide A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a single ...

between the

Durance The Durance (; ''Durença'' in the Occitan classical norm or ''Durènço'' in the Mistralian norm) is a major river in Southeastern France. A left tributary of the Rhône, it is long. Its drainage basin is .ridge A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated geomorphologic landform, structural feature, or a combination of both separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides. The sides of a ridge slope away from a narrow top, the crest or ridgecrest, wi ...

that leads to the summit of the sub-peak ''Dôme des Écrins'' (4088 metres). The south face of the mountain is rocky while the north face is ice as it is the starting point of the Glacier Blanc. The mountain is surrounded by four glaciers: to the north-west is the ''Bonne Pierre glacier'', to the north-east the ''Glacier Blanc'', to the south-west the ''Glacier du Vallon de la Pilatte'', and finally in the south-east the Glacier Noir. It is separated from the ''Snow Dome of Écrins'' (4015 m) by the ''Lory Gap'' (3974 m) to the west, the ''Barre Noir'' (3751 m) by the ''Écrins Gap'' (3661 m) to the north-east and by ''Fifre'' (3699 m) via the ''Col des Avalanches'' (3499 m) to the south.

Geology

The mountain consists of migmatized

gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...

, an acidic rock composed of

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

feldspar Feldspar ( ; sometimes spelled felspar) is a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagiocl ...

. On the upper slopes there is an

amphibolic The term amphibolism () is used to describe a biochemical pathway that involves both catabolism and anabolism. Catabolism is a degradative phase of metabolism in which large molecules are converted into smaller and simpler molecules, which involve ...

face over the top of the migmatized gneiss forming the top. These formations overlap a large

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

Pluton In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

that forms the summit of Pelvoux.

History

The Écrins were discovered by geographers belatedly in the 19th century when they were the highest point in France (

being part of the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

at that time). The mountains are actually located on the borders of the

Oisans L'Oisans () is a region in the French Alps, located in the départements of l'Isère and Hautes-Alpes, and corresponding to the drainage basin of the River Romanche and its tributaries (Eau d'Olle, Lignarre, Sarenne, Vénéon and Ferrand). Betw ...

and Briançonnais with the highest point completely in Briançonnais. They were sometimes called "point of Arsines" by locals. The Englishmen A. W Moore,

Horace Walker Horace Walker (1838–1908) was an English mountaineer who made many notable first ascents, including Mount Elbrus and the Grandes Jorasses. Alpinism Born in 1838, Walker was the son of Liverpool lead merchant and mountaineer Francis Walker ( ...

, and

Edward Whymper Edward Whymper FRSE (27 April 184016 September 1911) was an English mountaineer, explorer, illustrator, and author best known for the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. Four members of his climbing party were killed during the descent. W ...

, guided by

Michel Croz Michel Auguste Croz (22 April 1830 in Le Tour, Chamonix valley – 14 July 1865, on the Matterhorn) was a Chamoniard mountain guide of the Kingdom of Sardinia and the first ascentionist of many mountains in the western Alps during the golden ag ...

from

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (; ; (no longer in use)), more commonly known simply as Chamonix (), is a communes of France, commune in the departments of France, department in the regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It was the site of the f ...

and

Christian Almer 220px, Christian Almer Christian Almer (29 March 1826 – 17 May 1898) was a Swiss mountain guide and the first ascensionist of many prominent mountains in the western Alps during the golden and silver ages of alpinism. Almer was born and di ...

from

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, made the first ascent of the Barre des Écrins on 25 June 1864. They cut steps on the north face of the Barre until they reached the top of the eastern edge via the ''Whymper corridor''. They then reached the top of this high ridge which was composed of very unstable rocks. Edward Whymper described the ascension in his book ''Scrambles Amongst the Alps in the Years 1860-69''.Richard Goedeke, ''4000 des Alpes'', Libris, coll. Les Guides Libris, June 2007, 22 pages. William Auguste Coolidge made the first direct climb up the north face of the Barre des Ecrins in July 1870 by cutting 500 steps. The first ascent without a guide is credited to Frederick Gardiner in 1878 accompanied by

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

and Lawrence Pilkington on 19 July. The southern face was climbed for the first time in 1880 by Pierre Gaspard together with Henri Duhamel. The south pillar, a part of the Black glacier ending at the top, was climbed for the first time in 1944 by the famous couple of climbers Jeanne and Jean Franco.

Ascent

The Barre des Écrins attracts many climbers and has many routes to the top. The mountain is traditionally scaled from the ''Pré de Madame Carle'' in the valley of Ailefroide. The normal route climbs the entire length of the Glacier Blanc. This is a much-used route, because it is the usual way to the Dôme des Écrins, one of the most easily climbed 4,000 m alpine peaks. It starts from the Refuge des Écrins and climbs the north face almost up to the Lory saddle (3,974 m), where the routes to the Dôme and the Barre divide. The ascent of the Barre continues by a rocky

arête An arête ( ; ) is a narrow ridge of rock that separates two valleys. It is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys. Arêtes can also form when two glacial cirques erode headwards towards one another, although frequ ...

all the way to the summit. The guides from ''La Bérarde'' have equipped the ''Col des Écrins'' with cables allowing them to bring their clients to the summit. Other more challenging routes to the summit exist, such as the South Face rated AD (Fairly Difficult). The quality of the rock on the mountain ranges from poor to average and especially on the South Face of the mountain the risk of

rockfall A rockfall or rock-fallWhittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984. . is a quantity of Rock (geology), rock that has fallen freely from a cliff face. The term is also used for collapse of rock from roof or wa ...

is significant. It is possible to climb the ''Direct Coolidge'' in late spring directly to the summit with crampons and an ice axe. Depending on snow conditions, this route can also be done on skis. The south-north traverse of the Barre des Écrins bar is also one of the classic routes of the massif. In summer it is possible to climb a steep path on the south face with the ''Pilier Sud'' being the most traveled route. The record for an ascent on foot is 1 hour 55 minutes by Mathéo Jacquemoud in June 2012, starting from Pré de Madame Carle (1874 m) by the normal route of the Dôme and the Whymper corridor. He beat the old record by Hubert Fievet (2 hours 3 minutes in 1998). The record for round-trip ski mountaineering is 2 hours 51 minutes by Nicolas Bonnet in 2009 from the Pré de Madame Carle.Record of Écrins alpine skiing 2009
Wikiecrins

Longest line of sight

The Barre des Écrins is the subject of the longest photographed and recognised line of sight on Earth. In July 2016, Marc Bret took a photograph of the mountain from the Pic de Finestrelles in the Pyrenees, some 443 km distant

References

External links

The Barre des Écrins on SummitPost

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barre Des Ecrins Alpine four-thousanders Mountains of the Alps Mountains of Hautes-Alpes Highest points of French national parks Four-thousanders of France