Mont Falourde from Bairols
The well visible but less visited summit of Mount Falourde (1306
m) can be best reached from the perched village of Bairols (850
m). Situated 7 km northwest of the confluence of the Tinée and Var rivers, the
mountain’s southern flank is steep and precipitous. The northern face is
mostly forested.
From Pont de Clans in the Tinée Valley, we drove to Bairols with a spacious parking just before the village. The road was good albeit narrow in places
with little traffic.
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Start of trail to M Falourde
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| Bairols |
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| Leaving Bairols |
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| Mont Falourde |
We started from signpost #191. Our summit was not mentioned, just St-Martin,
Le Lac, Massoins etc. We descended to Vallon de Bairols with a dry riverbed.
The start of the ascending trail had collapsed, and there were attempts to
rebuild this with a heap of stones. Later the trail was mostly OK. We
reached a paved road with restricted traffic at a place called St.-Martin
(1071 m). The signpost #190 was here in a bend, not as on our map, 300 m
further by the road.
We followed the paved road, climbing gradually. At a sharp bend (1183 m
elev. on the map) we tried in vain to locate a forest path which went
directly to the western flank of Mount Falourde. We therefore continued
along the road to signpost #194 near an area named Le Lac. Here, we forked
left (south) along a wide track towards Pointe de l’Adret.
We reached a picturesque clearing east of this peak. We continued east
along le Bau du Paradis (actually a ridge between the two summits),
first along the same track then forked right and followed a partly ingrown
path which undulated in the terrain. We had our goal in sight all the time.
The incline increased just before the summit. Some easy scramble helped.
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Nearing Pointe de l'Adret
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Next to Pointe de l'Adret
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Tinée and Var Valleys
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Nearing Mont Falourde
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Tinée Valley seen from M Falourde
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On the way back, we descended to signpost #194, walked past Le Lac (mountain
holiday cottages to rent) and soon reached signpost #195, forked right and
descended to St.-Martin. The last stretch was eroded and overgrown. From
here, we used the same itinerary back to Bairols.
Climb: 610 m
Distance: 11 km
Duration: 4h 45 active hiking
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