La Chapelle-En-Valgaudémar: Holiday apartments and holiday homes

La Chapelle-En-Valgaudémar is situated in a landscape with numerous waterfalls, lakes and glaciers. A large part of the municipality lies within the core zone of the Parc national des Écrins. This core zone begins a few kilometres from the village at the Refuge du Gioberney.

Anyone considering La Chapelle-En-Valgaudémar as a holiday destination can combine their stay with the desire to rent a holiday apartment.

Nature

The hike to Lac du Lauzon starts in La Chapelle-en-Valgaudémar and is a moderately difficult circular route of 6.6 km with a duration of 3 hours. The circular hike is located in the Cirque du Gioberney above the Voile de la Mariée waterfall. Another route leads behind the Romanesque bridge over the Torrent de Navette to the bubbling potholes known as the “Oulles du Diable”.

A hiking trail runs through the Bois des Andrieux along the Séveraisse to the Pont des Andrieux and along the Valgaude trail (GR54); the return route leads through a moss-covered forest. The route to the Refuge de Vallonpierre ends at a small lake at high altitude.

Hiking and the mountain world

In the Valgaudemar, the Valgaude trail allows visitors to explore the lower valley, while trails in the upper valley lead to mountain huts and peaks, including Olan, Rouies, Bans and Sirac. From the Gioberney car park, the Refuge de Chabournéou can be reached in 2 hours and 30 minutes, with an ascent of 450 metres. The Refuge de Chabournéou also offers a variant on the GR54.

The mountain guide Eric Fossard offers beginners, occasional climbers and experienced mountaineers high-altitude tours of Les Rouies, Le Gioberney, L'Olan and Les Bans. The L’Aup route starts at the abandoned village of Navette and follows a small, steep path towards the Cascade de Buchardet.

Culture

The pastoral tradition is deeply rooted in the municipality. Held annually on 4 October, the Fête de la chèvre marks the driving of the herds down to the valley floor and the beginning of winter.

Traditional houses in the Valgaudemar have a vaulted porch on the façade, known as a “toune”, which usually contains the entrance; in the past, they were covered with straw. The Pont du Casset is an old bridge that survived the flooding of the Séveraisse.

The stone building of the Refuge du Clot-Xavier Blanc originally housed miners who extracted galena veins above Gioberney. Later, the building became one of the first mountain huts of the Club Alpin Français. Today, the Refuge du Clot-Xavier Blanc welcomes visitors for a day stay or for their first mountain-hut experience and is a starting point for the Tour du Valgaudemar.

Visiting locally

The Maison du Parc du Valgaudemar offers information and documentation, permanent and temporary exhibitions, as well as the sale of park products.

More destinations: Ventavon, Ribeyret, Saint-Crépin, Saint-Véran, Veynes, Gap, La Saulce, Saint-André-Dʼembrun.

To the overview of the surrounding travel region: Hautes-Alpes.