The Great Crossing of Mercantour was officially unveiled yesterday at the Alpes-Maritimes Department Hotel. The departmental council sees it as a national-scale route, ready to compete with the GR20, among others.
“We wanted this crossing, we thought it through.” Éric Ciotti, president of the Alpes-Maritimes department, struggles to hide his pride. Facing the audience, he presents the Mercantour Crossing route, which he believes “will stand as one of the most attractive and beautiful in the country.”
Spanning 212.4 kilometers, the sporty hike is divided into sixteen stages: “of which four take place on Italian soil,” specifies Charles-Ange Ginésy, mayor of Péone-Valberg. These stages can be completed in sixteen days, with five to seven hours of walking per day.
From Estenc to Menton via Isola 2000, Belvédère, or even Tende, the route will be “fully accessible from mid-July to the end of September,” according to Éric Ciotti. “The Great Crossing of Mercantour will offer an elevation gain ranging from 500 to 1100 kilometers each day.”
Christophe Magliano, an experienced hiker and hiking technician, then presents the route step by step, detailing the specificities of each one in front of the mayors of the various villages who have come for the occasion.
Éric Ciotti also announced that, on the occasion of the start of this great crossing, a specific RandOxygène guide would be published. It will be entirely devoted to the Great Crossing of Mercantour and will notably offer complete cartographies and information on refuges.
For the launch of this hike, the department recruited eight volunteers who will test the route in preview from July 9 to 24. Following a call for applications, eight candidates were selected, four men and four women: Karine Bardy, Soizic Martin, Jocelyne Pisano, Laurence Le Cam, Marc Beinat, Jean-Jacques Cantoni, Alain del Lungo, and Yann Bouillant. Throughout their journey, they will share their impressions, as well as their photos and videos, on the department’s social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram).
The Côte d’Azur Regional Tourism Committee (CRT), and more specifically its new Sport Tourism Cluster launched last Friday, will also play a full role in promoting the Great Crossing of Mercantour, as well as in setting up and marketing stays around this new tourism asset.
