Barre des Écrins
The Barre des Ecrins is a mountain in the French Alps. It is the highest peak of the Massif des Ecrins and of the Dauphine Alps mountain range. It is in the Ecrins National Park (), one of the ten French national parks.
It is the only mountain or higher in France that is outside the Mont Blanc Massif. Before the annexation of Savoy, that was part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, in 1860, it was the highest mountain in France.
Geography
Barre des Ecrins is in the northeast of the Hautes-Alpes department (commune of Pelvoux), Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region, in southeast France.
The south side of the mountain is rocky while the soil of the north side is covered with ice because here starts a glacier, the Glacier Blanc.
Barre des Ecrins is surrounded by four glaciers:
Glacier Blanc, on the north side. It is long.
Glacier Noir; its northern part is on the southwestern side of the mountain. It is long.
Glacier de la Pilatte, or Glacier du Vallon de la Pillate, on the western side. It is short, long, and divided now in three parts.
Glacier de Bonne Pierre, to the northwest of the mountain. It is long.
History
The first recorded ascension of the peak was made on 25 June 1864 by the Englishmen Adolphus Warburton Moore, Horace Walker and Edward Whymper, guided by Michel Croz from Chamonix and Christian Almer from Switzerland.
William Auguste Coolidge, a mountain climber from United States made the first direct climb up the north side of the Barre des Ecrins in July 1870.
References
Other websites
Barre des Ecrins at Altituderando.com
Alps
Mountains of France
Hautes-Alpes