3. The refuges of Les Mouterres and Le Fay via the Plateau d'Emperis

6 points of interest

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  Panorama

  The Emparis Plateau

  The mule path follows the edge of the Southern border of the plateau which is completely dedicated to pastoralism and tourism. It offers an exceptional view of the Meije whose marked relief contrasts with this gentle landscape. It welcomes 7 refuges and pastoral cabins as well as remarkable fauna, like the Mountain Hare and the Mountain Apollo butterfly. The challenge for this site is to preserve its pastoral character.

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  Fauna

  Small Apollo

  The Small Apollo is a rare and protected butterfly. It has finely striped black and white antennae, and a tiny red ocellus (eye) on each of its forewings. With a wingspan of 60 to 80 mm, it is the lord and master of the orangey-yellow beds of mountain saxifrages where it takes care of its eggs and feeds its caterpillars.

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  Know-how

  Agricultural work in Spring and Summer

  In Spring the soil had to be moved up the land using crates pulled by mules. Ploughing, sowing, planting followed rye (which stayed in the ground for two years), barley, oats and potatoes. Summer was not finished until the barns were full of hay. Scythes that had been beaten on an anvil, rakes, and nets were used every day. In order to ensure the overwintering of the animals, a certain number of loads (around 80 kg of hay) were necessary: 25 for each dairy cow and 5 for each sheep.

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  Know-how

  Agricultural work in Autumn and Winter

  From September, cereal crops were cut with the scythe and the sickle, dried in “bourles” (small stacks of ten sheafs) on the top of the land (fields). Once beaten, the grains of rye were dried in the sun «soleillaient », they were taken to the mill and then to the oven to be made in to black bread. From the end of November until the beginning of May, the animals had to be tended to in the stables. The manure from the cows was transported to the fields using sledges, while the sheep dung was dried and cut in to, pieces, and burnt to produce heat and energy for cooking. In the dairy, milk was made in to butter and cheese.

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  Fauna

  White-throated dipper

  Perched on a large, partly immersed pebble, the dipper sways to and fro with its tail aloft, and then dives down head first into the swirling water. This surprising passerine is unusual in moving underwater against the current in search of food. Thanks to a thin membrane protecting its eyes from the water, it can spot its prey (worms, small shellfish, water insect larva), before lifting its head out of the water and letting the current carry it gently along. It then takes up a new surveillance position and starts the process all over again.

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  History

  Les Fréaux près de la Grave, Charles Bertier

  The Romanche valley was a source in inspiration for numerous painters of mountain landscapes. It inspired Charles Bertier (1860-1924) to paint the oil on canvas Les Fréaux près de la Grave in 1894. Introduced to landscape painting by J. Achard and to mountain landscape painting by Laurent Guétal (who was a priest so was also known as L'Abbé Guétal) this Grenoble-born artist thought nothing of setting up his easel on the highest peaks of the Dauphiné Alps. With canvases such as L'approche de l'orage en Oisans (1900), he made it his mission to give his contemporaries an understanding of the mountains.