How to get there:
The starting point is the village Montgenevre, location N44.9342, 6.7288, elevation about 1850 meter.
Route description:
There are a few variations. An obvious route is to follow the trail that heads up the valley, just left of
the mountain as seen from the Montgenevre village. Follow this trail, it will soon be the trail that is
closest to the mountain. This route will take you to the small col where a road comes from your left.
Follow the road up along the mountain slope until it turns (left) back and arrives on the main crest.
There is a tourist viewing area further (right), where the road ends. However, the summit is off to
your left. Leave the road and follow the main crest
towards the summit. There is a vague climbers trail
running mostly on the left side of the crest to avoid some scramble. This part of the climb is YDS class 2.
You will soon arrive at the summit,
marked with a piece of metal.
Comments:
Today, my plan was to climb Rochebrune.
A nice and very visible sharp peak at 3320 meter. I left our hotel in
Montgenevre and drove to the col (another Tour de France col) d'Izoard at 2360 meter. However, at this location
there were clear warnings posted.
A rock-fall had affected the normal route and any attempt to go there now
was strongly discouraged. It was, of course, very hard to know exactly how this incident had impacted the
route. If I had been going wioth a partner and carried a rope, then most likely, we should have investigated
the situation. This climb was already in the upper end of what I currently do solo, thus the decision to
call it off was rather easy. I returned to Montgenevre and decided to climb the local mountain.
Starting around 1145, it took me slightly more than 1:30 to walk to the summit. Heidi was out walking in the same
area, but we did not see each other. Nice views from this summir down to the town of Briancon as well as to
Montgenevre. High enough to also see across to Barre des Ecrins. I left after about 15 minutes and walked
back to the hotel in about one hour.
