Ultralight trekking the GR54: 185km in 5 days

I have been trekking for several years now, below is a short diary of my latest hike on the GR54, during summer 2022.

Day 1

Though night, difficult to wake up, slightly nauseated. I get up at 4:30 am and leave at 5:15 am without eating, I have 3 hours planned to the refuge 500m higher. I start with the headlamp. I end up having my first feeling of middle mountains, but I am exhausted. Sometimes I close my eyes in spite of myself.

Finally, I reach the magnificent shelter of l’Alpe in 2 hours. There, I live again. I eat a breakfast that makes me feel good and I discuss with Clément who will sleep at more than 3000m tonight, before taking the GR54 again. I pass the col d'arsine totally reboosted, the mountains are breathtaking, there is a white river.

And 3h later, here I am at Monêtier-les-Bains, close to the Serre Chevalier ski resort. Either I follow the GR54 with ski lifts in the middle, or I take an alternative path to check out a lake at 2000+. As I am faster than my estimations, I go for the latter and do not regret it!

Villar-d'Arêne - Vallouise: 45km 2050D+ 2515D-

Day 2

The night was short once again, for some reason I cannot find good sleep. 4:30a I wake up and eat some stuff I bought at the grocery store, as I was staying in a town.

5:15a, I leave the hotel and start hiking. The day begins with 8km close to a road. It's a steep walk though, I see car passing close by. I am a bit tired, should I just hitch hike couple of kms? No, I push it until about 7a, eat a cereal bar and wander into "Le parc national des Écrins". It's beautiful. Still pretty cold but beautiful.

The hike until Pré de la Chaumette is long and uphill, offering different sceneries. On the way, I cross an unmanned shelter with a couple of autonomous hikers. They join me on the journey, with their big backpacks. Minutes later, they win terrain on me, eventually taking over. How is it possible, with so much weight on their back, am I too slow? Can I even make it?

At the summit, we share some sausage and then it's downhill for 900m. Galloping, I arrive at the shelter first, eat "oreilles d'âne" and a blueberry cake. It's 1pm, originally, I planned to stop here, but is still have time. Next shelter, estimation is 6 hours and 45 minutes. I'm typically a bit faster... Let's go!

I close the stage, I am the very last one to start. It's two mountain passes in a row before reaching the Vallonpierre shelter, next to its lake. With passes, each visit opens to a mystery new view, stunning every single time. After the 2nd pass, I am not there yet, actually it's three passes in a row!

6pm, I arrive at the shelter. It's full, I have no booking... Will I spend the night on a bench? Thankfully, the guardian sets up a tent for me. There's lamb for dinner, and a beautiful sunset on the lake. See you tomorrow!

Vallouise - Refuge de Vallonpierre: 37km 2826D+ 1697D-

Day 3

4:30a, finally a good night of sleep! Is it related to the friendly dinner yesterday? The fresh air breathed from the tent? The awesome location at 2200m? Most likely all of the above.

5a, I head out to the shelter for breakfast, the guardian prepared it for me, with warm coffee in a thermos. Today, there are three other early birds. It's a family on a hiking holiday, they prepared their trip carefully checking out IGN maps.

Half an hour later, I refill my water bottles and go. It's a steep downhill to the valley. The early lights make for a vivid landscape. There's a shelter midway. I notice a guy with a T-shirt colored to the Belgian flag. He and his friends are from Tournai. He tells me that the water here is not drinkable, good that I refilled.

7a, I'm at 1000m, on my way to Villar-Loubière. It's flat. For 12km. Next to a road. Yesterday during dinner, I meet a group of 4 friends, with trail running-ish style. Turns out they are wrapping the GR54 counterclockwise, in 5 days, bivouacking. Meaning carrying a tent and food, for about 12-15kg. Pretty impressive. Thus, they came the way I'm heading to. They decided to take a bus for this flat section. Should I also skip it hitchhiking? What about the alpine alternative going through l'Olan, that's not flat? And actually, will there be room for me this evening?

As I understand that yolo-ing every decision on this trek is harder due to accommodation high demand, I decide to book a bed in a gite 3 steps later, with a total estimation of 13 hours. And what about the next day? And the day after? Well, at the end of day 3, I will be at end of step 9, on a total of 14. Wait, am I about to complete this trek in 5 days? 175km 11kD+? I don't know, but let's book as if. Alea jacta es.

Eventually, I decide to 1. not take a car, part of my drive for those hikes is to reconnect with nature, and hopping into a car would compromise that. And 2. to just walk the flat, I'm about trek the most I ever did in 5 days, while not being at my best physical form, compared to previous years. Let's just recover a bit on that portion.

11a, I start the ascension toward le refuge des souffles. It's 900m uphill, but quite easy. Indeed the terrain is non-hazardous and not too steep. 2 hours later, I'm enjoying a cheese and ham omelette before heading to le Col de la Vaurze. It's superb! The rock is dark, like a volcano, or what I think it looks like.

3p, it's time for downhill. 1300m downhill. The first 150 meters are extremely steep. I would have preferred to hike that uphill. Anyway, after some time, the dark scree become dirt with rocks. I could run down here, but I do not. I prefer to preserve my knees, I'll reach the shelter early enough anyway.

7p, after settling in and doing a bit of clothes hand washing, the kind of thing normal hikers do every day when you don't arrive dinner-30 minutes, we start eating. It's a long table, with 16 plates. The guardian is a passionate cook and spent all the afternoon simmering sausages and rice. It's delicious. Those shelter dinners are always a nice time, everyone is so caring. The typical opener is "so you're on the GR? When did you start?". At some point, I answer those questions, so... I'm 60% in and started 3 days ago. This morning I was at Vallonpierre. As I am talking, I notice more and more guests becoming silent and looking at me with big eyes. I share some tips and tricks on how to pack lightly, avoid injuries etc. Of course I know my way of hiking is a bit out there, but it is not crème de la crème either right? What I do in 5 days, Kilian, Lambert or Jim would do in 30 hours. To them I was still somehow extraordinary, everything is relative.

Refuge de Vallonpierre - Désert-en-Valjouffrey: 36km 1660D+ 2659D-

Day 4

5a, it's a solo breakfast today, the guardian left a small goodbye note, that's nice. Today is going to be a cool one. The plan is to reach Vénosc, two mountains away. 1000 meters up, 1000 meters down and repeat.

In between, there is Valsenestre. Actually going there is a small detour, which I would like to avoid because it does not have much interest. Problem: how do I get enough water for those two mountains at once? The estimated time is 10h45 and my water capacity is 1.7 liters. I anticipated that, a fellow hiker gave me purification pills, allowing to drink river water. This discussion led to a heated debate about the need to purify that glacier water. As I want to minimize risk, I'm going to use the pill for sure.

5:40a, I'm heading toward the Col de Cote Belle and as I look in the opposite way, i.e. where I came from yesterday, I see a lone bright point at the top. I'm not the only one starting my hikes with my headlamp. The walk is nice and I feel great. No more sleepiness, I guess that hiking while fasting is not for me.

9a, I reach the other side, I am way faster than estimates. I barely drink, as it is not too warm yet. Still, now is the time to refill. I see a river, but it smells so bad I decide not to drink it, even purified. I see on the map that I should cross the same river but more upstream. Good. As I start to hike the second mountain, I see a Shepherd's house and, guess what, there's a water source next to it.

11a, I'm close to the top, the Col de la Muzelle. It's super steep, in endless laces, on a dark-colored material. I see several people at the top, chilling with a view. Soon it will be me. I discover the other side of the mountain, there is a huge lake, the lac de la Muzelle. Beautiful. After a mandatory selfy and some nuts, I head down. The lake becomes bigger and bigger. There are several falls due to melting ice, flowing into the lake.

12:30p I just joined the shelter, there were some people attempting a swim in the lake, up to knees mostly. I share my lunch with two Dutch. They think I'm a cyclist as I wear Sutro sunglasses. Ahah, no, I just enjoy the full field of view. Now it will just be downhill to Vénosc, I order a last coffee to enjoy the view up here.

3:30p that's it for the day, too bad I pre-booked, I might have kept walking until 6. The next possible stop is 12km further so it would have been a push. I will be sharing my room with 4 other hikers today.

7:30p we have dinner and, as usual, we chat. There are two girls hiking together, they met in La Réunion. They ask me if I do trail running race. I don't. But they do. La Diagonal des Fous actually. Woaw. It's one of the most popular races, with the UTMB. She completed it in 59h, can you imagine? "Simon, with the way you trek, don't you want to do trail running races?" I do, actually, stay tuned!

Désert-en-Valjouffrey - Bourg d'Arud: 25km 2170D+ 2521D-

Day 5

4:30a, I sneak out of the dormitory, trying not to wake up anyone. I usually pack my bag before sleeping so that I can leave the room smoothly, as soon as my alarm fires. For breakfast, I make coffee using a percolator, feels good after several instant coffee days. Today, I will follow the C part of the GR54C. It's an alternative path of the trek; basically it is 20km shorter for the same total elevation.

5:30a, instead of heading toward Bourg-d'Oisans, I start hiking to the Lac du Chambon, right next to Mizoën. To do so, I go around the Pied Moutet, a 2400 meters tall mountains, in the Les Deux Alpes skiing domain. On the way, there are several equipped sections, with small ladders and chains to facilitate some perilous paths. Nothing like the GR20 though, I almost never had to use my hands on this trek. The only exception was when hiking the Col de la Grangette on the first day, but which is actually not part of the GR54. Several kilometers later, I pass by an unmanned shelter. There is a small table and two beds. It would be really cool to spend a night there, maybe one day, when I'll do autonomous trekking.

10a, I'm arriving on top the Lac du Chambon, it's huge! The water is sky blue and I can see some water sports happening on it. After a small section on the road, I cross the lake on its dam, it looks super high. I one shot a cola and a ice tea at Mizoën and head toward the Plateau d'Emparis, my final rise. On the way, I see that I can go check out a small lake, Le Lovitel. But I see no lake, it is completely dry. Apparently, the whole massif is dry this year, it is usually way greener.

2 hours later, I make it to Les Clots shelter, although I am hungry, I decide not to have lunch here but higher up instead, to enjoy the height just one last time. On the way up, there is a waterfall, actually multiple coming from the same rocks. The way all the water flows is beautiful. On the southern side, I see two glaciers, their white coats are impressive.

2p, at the top of the Plateau, I realize it is the last time I go above 2000 meters. Thankfully, I'm on a "plateau", meaning I will have some distance to travel up here before getting down. I take my break at the Mouterre shelter. I eat a crepe with an awesome view on the glaciers. Even though I am not hungry anymore, I decide to have a dessert, just to enjoy the moment a bit longer. The cook offers me a local digestif, genepi, made from herbs growing there.

3:30p, eventually, it's time to go. I start hiking toward le Chazelet, and then, La Grave, my final stop. It's still 800 meters downhill. My feet are pretty tired, so I take my time. I cross the path of some hikers going upward, it reminds me of myself, just 4 days ago, when I was starting the trek. The way down goes into laces, there are several shortcuts, but signs warn us not to take them, as they erode the landscape.

6p, I am at La Grave. It's over. 185km, 5 days. I did not expect I would have been so fast. I think that the terrain was easier than on my previous hike, enabling a faster pace. The GR54 is beautiful, and steep, but not to technic. At the gite, I share my dinner with a former physics researcher, now retired. We discuss rock climbing, hiking in the Pyrenees, quantum physics and cross-country skiing the GR20. I still love those sharing moments.

Tomorrow, I will be leaving for Brussels, by bus and train. As usual, this adventure fulfilled me to the fullest. The views, the effort, the judgment calls, the people, the fresh air... I cannot wait for the next one!

Bourg d'Arud - La Grave: 41km 2488D+ 1962D-

Wrapping up

Should anyone have been inspired by my experience, you can find what was in my backpack here and my itinerary just below

Day	From	To	Distance (km)	Ascent (m)	Descent (m)	Elapsed time (hh:mm)	Moving time (hh:mm)	Comment
1	Villar-d'Arène	Vallouise	45,19	2050	2514	12:41	9:22	Via le Col de la Grangette
2	Vallouise	Vallonpierre Shelter	37,37	2826	1697	12:23	9:57
3	Vallonpierre Shelter	Désert-en-Valjouffrey	36,46	1660	2659	11:00	8:43	Via Villar-Loubière
4	Désert-en-Valjouffrey	Bourg-d'Arud	25,72	2170	2520	9:52	7:24
5	Bourg-d'Arud	La Grave	41,17	2488	1962	12:36	10:04	Via Mizoën (GR54C)
Total			185,91	11194	11352	58:32	45:30

The moving time is estimated by Strava.

So... This was my third large trek, completed in 5 to 6 days. I plan to share the knowledge I acquired doing them, from preparation to day-to-day hiking. You can expect to find a new post about this some day.

In the meantime, you can also check-out those highlighted stories for more views on the GR54 trek.

Cheers, Simon

August 14, 2022

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