Via ferrata de la Croix de Verdon

Above the massive ski resort of Courchevel, lies (according to the Cicerone guidebook "Via ferratas of the French Alps") "one of only a few proper mountain via ferrata's in France, and also the highest route of the country": the via ferrata de la Croix de Verdon. It is conveniently accessed with the Saulire cable car, though this one has only a very limited summer season, from early July to late August.

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Abi, my brother Mats and I start with the new, short via ferrata du Panoramic, which starts directly underneath the cable car platform at the Saulire station. After a slightly dodgy descent (loose stones!) the route continuous with a wire bridge and a very airy traverse below the cable car station. Technically it's easy (a K3 on the Hüsler scale) but the exposure is exciting nonetheless! Towards the end, the route splits in two. It seems like you can continue to the right, around the walls of a building, but this only leads to some abseil spots and is otherwise a dead end. The cable on the left, on the other hand, leads directly to the exit of the route. (A signpost would have been useful here...) The whole route takes less than 30 minutes, but it's a nice warm-up before doing the main route.

The start of the via ferrata de la Croix de Verdon is just north of the Saulire cable car station. The white information panel at the start can already be seen when exiting the cable car. The route follows a ridge with some spectacular rock towers. The beginning is gentle. We squeeze trough a narrow gap in the rocks, approaching the impressive rock tower named "Le Curé". It is possible to go around Le Curé on a easier route. The ascent of Le Curé is steep but not particularly difficult (plenty of iron rungs). Take note however, the main difficulty of Le Curé lies in the decent on the other side: about 40 metres of vertical and sometimes slightly overhanging down-climbing. Again, there are plenty of rungs, but still this section is a little more demanding, both physically and psychologically (K4+). This section is made especially fascinating for us by a wonderful little circular rainbow down below.

Behind Le Curé, the Croix de Verdon rises impressively, first to a secondary summit south of the main summit. The guidebook had promised a via ferrata with "lots of rock contact, similar in nature to many via ferratas in de Dolomites". So far, this promise hasn't really held true, and unfortunately things don't improve after Le Curé. Instead of following the more natural line along the ridge to the south summit of the Croix de Verdon, the route traverses into the east face, which it ascends directly and in a rather uninspired fashion - you've guessed it: a never-ending ladder of iron rungs. The route climbs vertically for quite some time, don't underestimate the power required, but technically there's nothing to it. The final section to the main summit is a little more varied, but all too short. No complaints about the summit views: the snowy peaks of the Vanoise massif are all around, and the Mont Blanc occasionally shows itself through the clouds as well. Below, we witness a small airplane landing on the spectacular Altiport de Courchevel.

There is some more via ferrataing on the descent, where the route cleverly traverses along the side of a couloir - descending through the couloir itself would be dangerous due to loose stones! At the bottom of this couloir, you can ascend briefly to the saddle between Le Curé and Croix de Verdon, and follow a recently constructed return route towards the Saulire cable car station. We however, opt for the older descent route, down a scree slope towards the middle cable car station of Les Verdons. This isn't particularly recommended, since the scree is of a rather bad consistency - either the stones are too large, or there's not enough of them - so you can't really run down the slope. A redeeming factor on this route is the Rocher de l'Ombre. This striking little summit is reached on a short but challenging detour (T4-T5 depending on choice of route, with some easy scrambling).

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The location of the Croix de Verdon via ferrata is impressive: a high and wild ridge with great views. The route itself, however, was a little disappointing. The guidebook promised an alpine route with lots of rock contact, but instead we found excessive amounts of iron rungs. The longer vertical sections still require some experience and fitness, though. The official French grade is D (difficile), on the Hüsler scale I'd say K4+ (or simply K4 without the optional 'passage aérienne' on Le Curé).