Auberge de la Meije - Veneon valley
Jean-Philippe and Stéphanie welcome you to the Auberge de la Meije, the well-known chalet in La Bérarde mountain village, in the Haut-Vénéon valley in the heart of the Ecrins National Park.
The hostel is open from 26 April to 13 October 2024 to offer you a wide range of seasonal activities like ski touring, hiking, mountaineering, climbing, cycling, white-water sport... but also the culture, the heritage or you might come her just to relax and contemplate the landscape.
We welcome you in a warm atmosphere for mountain stay, to taste our homemade healthy-food or to have a drink on the terrace.
Rooms & Group accommodation in La Bérarde village
A mountain inn hostel in the Ecrins Park in Isère
The hostel is housed in the mountain house that is part of the natural and historical environment of La Bérarde.
It is built on both sides of the old building; the authenticity of the stone, the warmth of the wood and the light gives it a special atmosphere.
Since its renovation, it has been accessible to people with reduced mobility.
La Bérarde - High mountain hamlet and mountaineering spot
Since the Meije ascent in 1877 by Pierre Gaspard, La Bérarde has become a famous spot for mountain sports.
It has become the other "Mecca" of mountaineering.
The charming hamlet, the flora and fauna, the Haut-Vénéon wild character en font une make it a must for hiking and discovering the mountain environment.
History of La Bérarde
Since June 2022, La Bérarde is officially member of the « Ecrins mountaineering village ».
This label aims to improve tourist activities in the Ecrins' massif high mountain villages.
La Bérarde, the first French national park birthplace
Created in 1913, the short-lived la Bérarde National Park is the ancestor of our national parks and of the Ecrins National Park (PNE), which succeeded it in 1973.
From the outset, scientific and educational projects are developed.
Nowadays, the European High Mountain Park label has been given to the PNE by the Council of Europe.
La Bérarde is located in the heart of the park (still a peripheral zone but the last place before the protected zone) and its concerns and issues.
La Bérarde mountain setting.
Some history
17 August 1877, Pierre Gaspard, the first peasant guide of the valley and the Oisans, and his client Baron Emmanuel Boileau de Castelnau, climbed the last Alps emblematic summit, the hamlet of La Bérarde was only a small high mountain village without tourist infrastructures.
The first mountaineers were staying in local people's houses.
The, little by little, the first tourist guide companies, the first mountain societies (1874 Club Alpin Français, 1875 Société des Touristes du Dauphiné - entirely dedicated to exploring the Dauphiné Alps) open.
In 1884, the Société des Touristes du Dauphiné (STD) starts to build the inn hostel.
The building of this 150m² "chalet" on two levels will last three years. It offered high quality services for the time
The STD gave the management for twenty years to an experienced guide from the Chamonix valley: Auguste Tairraz.
Due to its success, the chalet soon became too small and in 1891, an annex was built behind the first building.
This new building was used to house guides and porters.
The STD, which has been investing in the Alps for a long time, unfortunately had financial troubles.
Then ,it sold the building to the Tairraz family in 1909 and it became the "Tairraz".
In order to be able to accommodate fifty more guests, the new owners did major work.
This "big hostel" was sold in 1964 to the Union Nationale des Camps de Montagne (next UCPA).
The building became a training center with 10 dormitories to accommodate 70 people.
It was also the time when La Bérarde expanded and two buildings were added to the: the French Alpine Centre (CAF) and the mountain rescue service that gives the building a "T" shape.
The UCPA, housed there until the end of the summer 2005, when they had to close for non-compliance
In the early 2000s, St Christophe en Oisans Town Hall buy the whole building.
The municipality started the renovation project called "Maison de la montagne".
Now, the new building consists of 3 independent parts :
the mountain rescue center to the east, the tourist office and the Ecrins National Park office, the Auberge de la Meije with 68 beds to the south.
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Our project
The Auberge de la Meije is a place dedicated to the knowledge and the protection of the mountain, as well as the practice of mountain sport.
As a base camp or a holiday accommodation, the auberge is a welcoming place, to recharge your batteries before or after a race, to get information, to meet people.. to enjoy the mountain!
We welcome all public with the aim of raising awareness, sharing knowledge about, the mountain environment and heritage preservation.
A high environmental quality setting and accommodation, good quality food, and the practice of mountain activities and/or well-being.
Our wish is to teach as many people as possible the respect and knowledge of the mountain environment and the good activity practices in the mountain.
Whatever your level and the activity you want to do, whether you are a die-hard or a first-timer, we will share with you:
- Respectful use of the mountain
- The knowledge of the mountain risks and dangers
- A healthy, varied and tasty diet
- Getting in touch with nature and our inner nature
- The awareness of the environment fragility
- The discovery of historic, cultural, pastoral heritage...
So that all of us can become an ambassador of the mountain environment preservation.
