is a wild sense of remoteness about the southernmost group of the Alpine chain that belies its proximity to the Mediterranean. In little more than an hour’s drive from the hotels and palm trees of Nice, for example, it is possible to be wandering through uninhabited valleys as rough and rocky as any in Europe, where the skyline is stark and uncompromising and where trails can so easily vanish in a low drifting mist.
Moulded against the grain the Maritime Alps spread across the general alignment later developed by the South-West Alps, their configuration here running from north-west to south-east and with the Franco-Italian border being such as to tilt the French side toward the south, thus providing Riviera resorts with a protective wall. Hot air drifts up from the Mediterranean to be confronted now and then by cooler airstreams flowing south from snow peaks of Dauphiné. Where the two meet frequent thunderstorms occur, and as the first of the loftier mountains, Mont Bégo (2872m) in the Merveilles attracts more than its fair share. Being a ferritic peak lightning strikes are commonplace, and it is this high incidence of lightning activity that is put forward as one possible theory to explain the huge number of Bronze Age rock engravings discovered nearby – the engravers being intent on placating the mountain gods.
By comparison with ranges farther north, the Maritime are not high mountains, for none of the summits reaches 3500 metres – the highest being Punta (or Cima) dell’Argentera at 3297 metres. The lower valleys are sub-tropical, the upper regions a wilderness of stone. There are no glaciers of any extent, snowfields are relatively insignificant and many of the more notable peaks are accessible to walkers with some mountain experience, without calling on technical climbing skills. Yet the Maritime Alps are truly Alpine for all that, with numerous jade-green tarns, great screes and boulder-choked corries, and spiky, rugged little rock peaks that not only provide sport for the climber drawn by the promise of a favourable climate and the odd day spent festering by the sea, but also create a backcloth of considerable charm to a wilderness camp adopted by the walker seeking somewhere a little different, a rarely-publicised region (outside of France, that is) that is not without its challenge.
The Vallée des Merveilles is a wonderland of rock and water
The group is a geological hotch-potch. In places limestone dominates. Elsewhere gneiss, sandstone, metamorphic schist and outcrops of granite form the base materials of which the mountains are composed. Of wildlife chamois are the most numerous and on the Italian flank alone there are estimated to be somewhere in the region of 3500 individuals. The Italian Alpi Marittime also claims some 650 ibex, thanks to a programme of reintroduction from the Gran Paradiso area that began in 1920. Alpine marmots abound, and under the protection of the Mercantour National Park, mouflons – a form of wild mountain sheep – have been introduced from Corsica. Wild boar and wolf, now rare in most other regions of the Alps, are said still to inhabit some of the lower valleys on the Italian side of the border, while the birdlife is also rich and varied. But it is the flora of the region that is so outstanding. The three small reserves of Argentera, Palanfré and Alta Valle Pèsio claim more than 3000 species of plants, many of which are extremely rare, while the Mercantour heartland contains half the native flowers of France, and around 40 that are unique to the area.
The official designation of the range gives Col de Tende as its south-eastern limit and Col de Larche forming the northern link with the Cottian Alps. In truth, however, the mountains extend eastward from Col de Tende as the Ligurian Alps, a definition not always recognised on maps of the area, and dismissed by Coolidge (whose classification of the Alpine chain in the 19th century largely stands today) for their lack of Alpine characteristics. The heart of the range contains the highest summits and probably the best walking opportunities, and is neatly concentrated on the adjoining Parco Naturale dell’Argentera on the Italian slope, and Parc National du Mercantour on the French side, the latter being the most recently designated Alpine park in France, established in 1979 against a great deal of locally-generated opposition.
Parc National du Mercantour
Within the 68,500 hectares of the park no building is permitted, hence the controversy that surrounded its formation, for plans had been proposed to create a downhill ski area there. So it is that walkers and climbers may roam today among uncluttered landscapes and enjoy a degree of solitude the more remarkable for its absence in some of the better-known ranges further north.
Between the Mercantour and the sea the Provençale countryside is characteristically cleft by narrow gorges scoured out by tributaries of the Var, and through which minor roads provide access from Nice. St-Martin-Vésubie, with a goodly assortment of hotels, pensions, gîtes d’étape and campsites, holds the key to exploration of the eastern Mercantour; St-Sauveur-sur-Tinée and St-Étienne-de-Tinée do likewise for the central and north-western sections. We’ll take the Haute Vésubie first, since most of the highest mountains are located here along the Italian border.
Haute Vésubie
Several tributary glens feed into the main Vésubie: the Vallon de la Gordolasque which spills down to Roquebillière, Vallon de la Madone de Fenestre which drains westward and enters the Vésubie by St-Martin, and the Vallée du Boréon to the north of St-Martin. At the head of the first of these glens stands the Cime du Gélas (3143m), highest of the Mercantour peaks and second highest of all the Maritime Alps – Punta dell’Argentera being located entirely on the Italian side of the border. Several lakes lie under the frontier ridge, and Refuge de Nice, a hut belonging to the French Alpine Club (CAF), provides a suitable base with accommodation and meals available in the main summer season. A narrow road projects for some way through the Vallon de la Gordolasque, and when this ends at Pont du Countet a trail continues, climbing between Mont Neiglier and Cime de Roche Garbière, to reach the dammed Lac de la Fous and the hut about two hours or so from the roadhead. Mont Clapier (3045m) dominates the scene above the hut to the north-east.
From Refuge de Nice (2232m) a number of opportunities present themselves for cross-country walking tours and single-day outings, including the ascent of neighbouring peaks, or the possibility of crossing into Italy where the Italian Alpine Club (CAI) has a few huts too. The ascent of Mont Clapier on the frontier ridge is a great attraction here, its summit providing a panorama whose extent in good visibility is said to include the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa in one direction, the outline of Corsica in the other.
West of Mont Clapier lies the old smugglers’ way into Italy via Pas de Pagari (2798m), which leads to the Rifugio Pagari in a little under three hours, while to the east of the Nice hut several small tarns linked by clear streams are passed by the GR52 which makes a multi-day tour of the district. South-east of the hut Lac Autier is trapped in an old glacial cirque overlooked by Mont du Grand Capelet, a peak whose ridges form part of the wall dividing the Vallon de la Gordolasque from the Vallée des Merveilles.
Vallée des Merveilles
The Vallée des Merveilles is more easily reached from the Vallée du Roya to the east, where the road from Nice passes into Italy via the tunnel under Col de Tende, and a minor road breaks off at St-Dalmas-de-Tende to provide access by way of either the Vallon de la Minière or Vallée de Valmasque. However, walkers who have spent time at the Refuge de Nice are able to make a direct approach by following the GR52 over the 2693 metres Baisse du Basto towards Mont Bégo, then either crossing the Baisse de Valmasque (2549m) and descending to the Merveilles hut, or heading north alongside three lakes to stay in the Refuge de Valmasque.
This is a fascinating area and a justifiably popular one too on account of the rock engravings, said to number more than 100,000, scattered over a landscape of boulders, tarns and slabs. Archaeologists believe that the primitive agricultural race responsible for all these pictographs made special journeys to the area round Mont Bégo to carve out images and symbols – all of which are found above the 2000 metre contour. Since so many are oriented towards Mont Bégo, it is thought that the mountain was looked upon as having particular religious significance. The engravings are now protected under