Moucherotte

Okay, adventure junkies, listen up! I've got the inside scoop on an insane climb in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France: Moucherotte!

This beast of a peak tops out at 1,863 meters (6,112 feet), and the road to the summit is pure, unadulterated gravel. Heads up, it's usually snowed in from October to June, weather depending.

Here’s the backstory: there used to be this super swanky hotel, Le Ermitage, built in '59, complete with a cable car straight from Grenoble. It was THE place to be, attracting the jet set, even Brigitte Bardot! There was also a 90-meter ski jump built for the 1968 Grenoble Olympics. Sadly, the good times didn't last, and the hotel and lift were abandoned, falling into disrepair. The hotel and summit even played a role in Brigitte Bardot's movie "La Bride sur le cou" ("The Bride of the neck"). The ruins of the hotel were finally demolished along with the cable car station in the summer of 2001.

Now, about that climb… It's only 4.3 kilometers from Saint Nizier du Moucherotte, but pack your courage! You'll gain a whopping 698 meters in elevation. That's an average gradient of 16.23% – seriously steep! But trust me, the views are SO worth it. You’re smack-dab in the Vercors Natural Regional Park.

The Moucherotte is the most northerly summit of the Vercors massif, which means panoramic vistas galore. There are official viewpoints, but honestly, you'll want to pull over everywhere. From the top, you can see the French Alps (including Mont Blanc!), Grenoble, and the Chartreuse massif. To the west lies the Four Mountain region of the Vercors. And if you look south, you'll spot peaks like Pic Saint Michel, Grand Moucherolle and Mont Aiguille. Get your cameras ready, because the Moucherotte summit is a photographer's dream!