Between the Northern and Southern Alps, located on the western fringe of the Alps, without a major ski resort or lake as a winter or summer attraction, the Dévoluy massif remains somewhat off the beaten paths and tracks. And yet, in its valleys bordered by large walls of stratified, decaying limestone, one skis in an exceptional geojolie, from traversing chourums (Dévoluy sinkholes) to suspended combes, from delicate arches to narrow corridors, with a plethora of routes as unusual as they are aesthetic, with rock beautiful from afar but far from good, and better skimmed over on skis… than peeled in climbing shoes.
The massif takes the shape of an open book, the long central valley of the Souloise rising from the eponymous gorge in the north to the Festre pass in the south, with two parallel ridge lines on either side of the road, the eastern one overlooking the agricultural plains of Champsaur, the western one those of Trièves, with the Pic de Bure connecting the two in the south. If, on the left bank of the Souloise, the eastern slope of the western chain proves to be the most frequented, offering its wide and gentle slopes gradually rising to the summit ridges, the western slope of the western chain or the eastern chain will impose or reward you with trailblazing. Whether in a corridor untouched by tracks or in a trafficked combe, heel suckers, misanthropes on boards, tight-lipped pipette tights or chatty open-throated pipettes can find their skiing happiness in the Dévoluy!
This article will therefore describe from north to south a very personal selection of routes, from easy classics like the Rama or alpine ones like the Chourums of Grand Ferrand, to the secret western corridor of the southern ridge of Pic Pierroux, passing through the confidential corridors of the Jarjatte circus.
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