La Croix de Cassini – hike from Auris Station

TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Start: Place des Orgières
Ascent: 967m
Indicative round-trip time: 7h
Round trip distance: 15.5km
Difficulty level

MAP AND TOPO
Map IGN TOP 25 - 3335ET - LE BOURG-D'OISANS L'ALPE D'HUEZ GRANDES ROUSSES SEPT LAUX
Topo map OBP n°3 (Oisans au Bout des Pieds), trails 312; 254b and 255

ITINERARY
Alpine pasture itinerary with panoramic views of the Oisans peaks. The hike starts from the Place des Orgières. You will take a small path overhanging the road, slightly uphill from the Col road. The entrance to the path is well before the Vacancéoles residence. It leads to the Saint Géraud chapel. Follow the pastoral path to the pretty, bucolic Hameau de Cluy. Then take the path that leads directly to the Col de Cluy. Admire the water trickling past you, where crocuses are blooming by the thousands. From the Col de Cluy, follow the signs for the Col de Grange Pelorce, passing the Chalet de Campaloup. After the Col de Cluy, the path climbs due south on the grassy slopes of the Grandes Buffes. From here, the panorama is already breathtaking. If the weather conditions are right, continue on to the Cassini cross at 2373m. After descending from the pass, the path gradually veers to the right as you climb up to the Cross.

THINGS TO SEE ALONG THE WAY
- Chapelle et belvédère de St Géraud: a bench with a view of the Meije is located next to the little chapel.
- View of the Meije glacier, the Écrins massif, the 2 Alpes, then the Grandes Rousses and Sarenne.

NEARBY ATTRACTIONS
Four permanent orienteering courses (for children and adults) and various geocaching itineraries let you have fun out and about - and it's free!
- Alice's House" eco-museum

TO KNOW
-Who wouldn't know the name of NASA's Cassini space probe, propelled by a Titan rocket from Cape Canaveral in 1997 and arriving in the vicinity of Saturn in 2004? But how many know who the astronomer of that name is? An astronomer and engineer from Savoie, he became a French citizen in 1673, and was the first director of the Paris Observatory. Cassini's cross was chosen as an observatory in the 19th century.