Photo : Pline / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
La Combe de Mai
The Combe de Mai is a high valley of the Dévoluy massif, in the Hautes-Alpes, on one of the classic routes to the Pic de Bure, a 2,709-metre summit. It is approached from the village of Montmaur, a few kilometres from Veynes.
The route climbs through the forests above Montmaur before entering a mineral landscape of combes, scree and white limestone, in places recalling the Dolomites. Guidebooks rate it as very difficult, with a height gain of about 1,300 metres. It is often combined with the Combe d'Aurouze to make a loop.
From the summit of Bure the view takes in the Hautes-Alpes, from the Dévoluy to the Écrins via the Gapençais and the Embrunais. A biotope protection order on the Bure plateau bans descending the Combe de Mai outside the winter period over the first few hundred metres, so check before setting out.
