La Croix de Cassini – hike from Auris Station

MAP AND HIKING GUIDE
IGN TOP 25 Map - 3335ET - LE BOURG-D'OISANS, L'ALPE D'HUEZ, GRANDES ROUSSES, SEPT LAUX
OBP Hiking Guide No. 3 (Oisans au Bout des Pieds), trails 312, 254b, and 255

ITINERARY
You’ll start on a narrow, balcony-like trail offering beautiful views of the Écrins Massif, particularly the majestic Roche de la Muzelle with its glacier and rocky ridge.
Shortly after the pretty chapel of Saint-Giraud, you’ll take a pastoral trail that leads to the hamlet of Cluy, with its few buildings, including the Auris-en-Oisans sheepfold. Following the trail that climbs into the mountain pasture, you’ll reach a spot known as “Sous le Col de Cluy,” where a grassy trail leads you to the Chalet de Campalou.
It turns into a trail that climbs the slope of the Grandes Buffes mountain, almost to its summit. It then continues, beneath the flight of griffon vultures, to the Col de Grange Pellorce.
Here, the final climb awaits you, up to the summit with its cross at 2,373 meters. You’ll find yourself in the center of a 360° view of an exceptional panorama.


HIGHLIGHTS ALONG THE ROUTE
- Saint-Giraud Chapel and Lookout: A bench with a view of La Meije is located next to the small chapel.
- Views of the Meije Glacier, the Écrins Massif, Les 2 Alpes, then the Grandes Rousses, Sarenne, the Aiguilles d’Arves, and the Emparis Plateau.
- The Cassini Cross: It was because of the unique characteristics of the unobstructed view from its summit that King Louis XV’s surveyor, Cassini III, chose this spot for his mapping of the region in 1739. He named it after himself to preserve a record of the “visit” to this valley by the King’s illustrious representative. The Croix de Cassini was erected by M. Reymond and F. Pichoud around 1975; the exact date is unknown.

GOOD TO KNOW
- Who hasn’t heard of NASA’s Cassini space probe, launched by a Titan rocket from Cape Canaveral in 1997 and which reached Saturn’s vicinity in 2004? But how many people know who the astronomer of that name was? An astronomer and engineer from Savoy who became a naturalized French citizen in 1673, he was the first director of the Paris Observatory. The Cassini Cross was chosen as the site for the observatory in the 19th century.

Accueil : Be sure to bring plenty of water, shoes suitable for walking, a hat or cap, and sunscreen.