サンマルタンドケリエールの山小屋＆キャビン・トップ8

Beautiful plateau that is reached after a long climb with a beautiful view

Very tough climb with gradients almost always in double figures.

Refuge du Pelvoux, perched at 2,704 meters in the heart of the Écrins, offers a warm welcome to hikers and alpinists alike. Whether preparing for an early ascent of Mont Pelvoux (3,946 m) or simply seeking shelter amid breathtaking alpine scenery, this high-altitude hut is a place of comfort and adventure. In 2025, it marks the checkpoint for Stage 3 of Le Pilgrimage Trail.

In Occitan, the pousterle is a small gate (a postern). It comes from the Latin posterula, which means the back door. This toponym sometimes refers to a pass, which is a gate between two valleys. Glaciers carved out this gate where an arm passed between the glacier that occupied the Fournel valley and the one that flowed into the Vallouise valley.

it is a nice "honest" climb both from the NEVACHE side (dirt road of medium difficulty due to the surface and the slope but practically free of traffic) and from the Serre Chevalier side (all asphalt but heavy traffic depending on whether it is a holiday or not). And then, once at the top of the hill, you can: go down on the opposite side to the uphill side, go down (MTB OCA) on medium-challenging single track but with very dangerous exposed sections, absolutely forbidden to fall or even take, after the cracks and the beer if the bar is open, the road up and back to where you came up from. If you get off on the opposite side you will need to consider recovering the car which will add a certain number of km to the lap. We did NOT go up to the Croix de Toulose (wet rocks and uncertain weather), immediately descending onto asphalt at Bois de l'Ours and then recovering the car after Val de Pres. Cost of the tour not even 40 km, not that much, all things considered.. .

Col de la Pousterle, our home climb and place to have bbq's. Views over the Ecrins.

climb on excellent asphalt for about 11 km, descent on good gravel road

That's where you come in. The trail down from there is very nice