Grande Tete de L'Obiou
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How to get there:
The nearest big city is Grenoble. From there, locate Hwy. N85 going
south-east to the city of Gap. After about 30 km you pass the city of La Mure,
continue 27 more kilometer to the small village of Corps. Just before entering
the village, turn right on Hwy. D537 and measure from this turn.
Drive downhill and stay right at km 1.3. Continue down towards the end of
the lake and cross the bridge at km 3.7. Stay on Hwy. D537 as it climbs gently,
stay left in the next intersection and continue straight across some fields until
an intersection with several signs at km 6.5. Make a right turn here and drive towards
the tiny village of Les Payas. Keep right at the small intersection at km 6.8, then
make a sharp left at km 7.3. There is a sign here for L'Obiou. The road turns into
a dirt road shortly before km 8.2, here you also should keep right. The road now zig-zags
uphill, stay left at km 9.3 (a curve on the road), and continue the main road uphill as
it gains elevation. You arrive at the Col de la Sambule at km 12.2. Continue driving as the
road first descends slightly then climbs to a clear parking area at km 13.9. This place is
named "Grottes" on the map. The elevation is 1566 meter and the location is N44:47.065, E005:52.514.
This is the trailhead, park here.
Route description:
From the parking, hike about 100 meter along the road to a point where
the road is blocked by a simple cord (to keep animals in place). Pass this
simple barrier on the right (a hikers passage), immediately the trail goes
right, uphill in a few zig-zags to gain the more gentle ridge above.
Follow the well worn trail through some sparse trees and out in open grass on the
ridge, then along the ridge on its right side. The trail then traverses right and
descends slightly in order to gain a grassy basin area (Le Vallon) on the right.
In this area, there is a trail fork, the main trail stays quite distinctly to the
right, while another trail climbs the grassy slope more directly. Stay right on the main
trail, this is the better alternative as you get higher up. The trail arcs around in a wide
left path in order to start a somewhat more direct zig-zag climb up the ridge that comes down
from above. Higher on this (moraine type) ridge, the trail now starts a long, gently
ascending traverse (YDS class 2+ in a few spots)
into the main valley formed between the Le Petit Obiou (2464m) (left) and the
main peak (right). As you get into the end of this very wide gully, the trail traverses quite
far to your left, ascends a narrow crack, then traverses further right before making another
turn to the left followed by a final ascent to the col. This part of the route is (YDS) class
3, however, with step-like rocks and quite easy to climb.
From this ridge, climb easier terrain (zig-zag trail) as you gain elevation just below the
formidable cliffs that block progress higher up. The trail traverses left and first crosses
a pretty broad gully (YDS 2+), be aware that this gully may be subject to rock-fall (see comments
below!). After the gully, the trail continues a short section, followed by the crux part of the
climbing (still YDS class 3). First, climb a small ridge, turn right on the top and continue up with
more step-like rocks, but somewhat steeper than the section described earlier. Still, with dry
rock, this climbing is easy and safe both ascending and descending.
On top of this, follow the trail as it winds its way left, partly under a pretty large overhanging
rock, then across a broad gully, followed by a short descent in order to further navigate around the
mountain. Finally, you reach easier terrain and the route now ascends more uphill, somewhat right, before
the trail zig-zags nicely with no more steep sections to the summit.
Comments:
I did this climb with my son Pål Jørgen, age 18. We stayed at a very nice 13th. century
castle about 12 km towards Gap as measured from Corps. Starting out around 0520, we were at the trailhead
shortly after 0600. Eager to get going, Pål first lead the way downhill along a narrow road (that
had seen little use). We soon decided that this would not get us on the ridge and backtracked to the
parking lot where we made a fresh start at 0615.
Pål Jørgen carried our single backpack and started out with a good pace, we were soon in the
grassy basin, Pål Jørgen ahead picking the direct trail that soon led us up into steep scree and
unstable talus. I had seen the main trail traversing higher up and I was quite happy when
Pål finally announced that he had reached it.
As we started the last section of the traverse, we noticed that a few small rocks came falling from higher up,
possibly crossing the trail behind us. This message was clear enough to make us briefly stop and put on our
climbing helmets that we carried.
We continued along the proper trail, entered the small crack and discovered that there was more slippery snow
than we really liked. Still, the ascent proceeded quite smoothly and soon we were topping out on the main
ridge above.
Quite content that the first section that the map indicated as "delicat" had been climbed without much
difficulty, we proceeded up the slope, right next to a big rock, then traversed left.
The next section seemed to be a pretty easy crossing
of a somewhat broad gully, steeper below us and ending in
vertical cliffs shortly above us. As we were halfway across, the sharp sound of a beginning rock-fall hit our
attention. BAD NEWS !, nowhere to hide, I quickly covered my face and bent down as far as possible.
Pål Jørgen was a few meter higher than me. In less than 3 seconds the 5-6 rocks were all around.
OUCHH!, a rock slammed into my back before bouncing further. The whole incident was over as quickly as it had
started. We had to assess injury and dammage, "Are you OK?" I asked Pål Jørgen. "My glasses are
broken" was the rather factual and modest reply. It turned out that a rock had hit Pål's face just below his eye,
it most likley also hit the lower edge of his helmet and smashed the left glass in front of his eye. Fortunately,
we both escaped this rather dangerous event with minor injuries. It was not obvious that a rock-fall would be
likely here, that it should hit us was of course even more unlikely, a half minute before or after, the margins
are rather narrow. In any event, the fact that we both used our climbing helmets at the time was certainly
well advised. Any of these rocks making a clean hit on an unprotected head could have been deadly.
After this, rather disturbing incident we continued up what is clearly the crux part of the climb.
Pål Jørgen's eye looked like he had just finished boxing with Mr. Tyson,
also, Pål had
lost his distance vision (being near-sighted), while I felt some mild pain in the back every time I moved my
left leg. "Obiou does not like us", said Pål, "he throws rocks at us."
The rocks higher up had "verglas", a thin coating with ice, making even easy moves extremely slippery. With considerable
caution, we climbed upwards, Pål leading and I following, using my hands to secure every step against possible
sliding footholds.
We came up to easier terrain, but lots of snow. Slight route finding problems as the red paint was covered by snow.
Still, without any further complications, we reached the summit at 0910.
The descent went well without any further incidents. In fact, the brief sun while we were higher on the mountain had
done wonders to the icy slabs of rock. Thus, the downclimb turned out to be much easier (and safer!) than
anticipated. We were back down at the trailhead about 2:10 after leaving the summit.
We went back to the nice castle in order to pick up Heidi, then moved on in
preparation for the next climb, Mount Taillefer.