Trans’Blanche 2027

Pagnol told the story of the Provence of dry hills and cicadas. The series was missing one volume: the one where the Blanche valley disappears under a meter of snow and you run through it!

In the Blanche valley, the color is no metaphor: at the end of January, it covers the larches, the alpine pastures and even the road signs ❄️. Set course for the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, between the village of Selonnet (1,062 m) and the heights of Seyne-les-Alpes, in a corner of the Southern Alps that even Provençals forget to mention 🗺️. The sky stays Provençal, the thermometer much less so: the neighboring weather station at Montclar has already recorded -19.2°C, so put your gloves on before pulling out your phone at the summit 🥶. No one will promise you powder or blue skies; the mountain will decide on Sunday morning.

The Trans'Blanche lives up to its name: a crossing, never a loop. On the long course, you leave Selonnet and climb toward the Chabanon resort (1,612 m), then you drop over toward the Fanget pass (1,459 m) and its Nordic area, before reaching the snow front of Grand Puy, above Seyne 🏔️. Zero ski lifts on the plateau. The only tow available is your calves 🦵. Between the larch forests and the wind-swept alpine pastures, you get a panorama of the Blanche range, which lines up its peaks from Dormillouse (2,505 m) to the Tête de l'Estrop (2,961 m) 🌲.

The concept fits in one sentence: link in a single go three winter sports sites that the valley keeps alive each in its own corner ⛷️. Chabanon still runs, Le Fanget lays out its Nordic trails, and Le Grand Puy saw its lifts shut down in 2024. The race gives it back one Sunday of life. Behind the organization, Team Provence Endurance already puts on the Blayeul Vertical Kilometer and the Digne-les-Bains Trail: people who know the terrain of the area by heart 🎒. Two distances are on the program, the 25 km for the full crossing and the "Short Blanche" over 16 km for those who prefer the second half, with shuttles at the start and bib pick-up at the finish 🚐.

Before or after the effort, Seyne-les-Alpes is well worth a visit with its Vauban fort clinging to the hillside and its past as the mule capital, an activity that saw hundreds of animals born each year between the wars 🐴. In Selonnet, the bell tower occupies a former tower of the castle of Lesdiguières. The last Constable of France was among the lords of the place 🏰. A marked trail leads to the Grosse Pierre. This erratic boulder weighs more than 500 tons, left there by a glacier 🪨. As for personal refueling, the village's apples and potatoes long made the reputation of the local markets 🍎. The bistrot de pays serves the hot version. The cheese specialties of the Chalet finish the job, at the foot of the Grand Puy slopes 🫕.

Seyne spent a century raising the best mules in the Southern Alps, tireless animals able to string together mountain passes without flinching. By crossing the line at Grand Puy, you will have proven that the breed has not disappeared and that the Trans’Blanche lives up to its name.