CHARLES-HENRI CONTENCIN (1898-1955)
The Barre des Écrins (4,102 m - 13, 458ft)
France (Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur)
In The Barre des Ecrins seen from above the Glacier Blanc Massif des Ecrins, France- 46 x5 6cm, oil on canvas, Courtesy John Mitchell Gallery London
The mountain,
The Barre des Écrins (4,102 m) is a mountain in the French Alps with a peak at 4102m altitude. It is the highest peak of the Massif des Écrins and the Dauphiné Alps and the most southerly alpine peak in Europe that is higher than 4,000 m. It is the only 4,000 m mountain in France that lies outside the Mont Blanc Massif. Before the annexation of Savoy in 1860 it was the highest mountain in France.
The Barre des Écrins is the highest peak in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region including all of Occitania and the Southern Alps. It is located in the commune of Pelvoux and is situated near the Drainage divide between the Durance and the Vénéon. This divide passes 250 metres west of the summit, along the ridge that leads to the summit of the sub-peak Dôme des Écrins (4,088 m). The south face of the mountain is rocky while the north face is ice as it is the starting point of the Glacier Blanc. The mountain is surrounded by four glaciers: to the north-west is the Bonne Pierre glacier, to the north-east the Glacier Blanc, to the south-west the Glacier du Vallon de la Pilatte, and finally in the south-east the Glacier Noir. It is separated from the Snow Dome of Écrins (4,015 m) by the Lory Gap (3974 m) to the west, the Barre Noir (3,751 m) by the Écrins Gap (3, 661 m) to the north-east and by Fifre (3,699 m) via the Col des Avalanches (3,499 m) to the south.
The Écrins were discovered by geographers belatedly in the 19th century when they were the highest point in France.
The Englishmen A. W Moore, Horace Walker, and Edward Whymper, guided by Michel Croz from Chamonix and Christian Almer from Switzerland, made the first ascent of the Barre des Écrins on 25 June 1864. They cut steps on the north face of the Barre until they reached the top of the eastern edge via the Whymper corridor. They then reached the top of this high ridge which was composed of very unstable rocks. Edward Whymper described the ascension in his book Scrambles Amongst the Alps in the Years 1860-69.
William Auguste Coolidge made the first direct climb up the north face of the Barre des Ecrins in July 1870 by cutting 500 steps.
The first ascent without a guide is credited to Frederick Gardiner in 1878 accompanied by Charles and Lawrence Pilkington.
The southern face was climbed for the first time in 1880 by Pierre Gaspard together with Henri Duhamel. The south pillar, a part of the Black glacier ending at the top, was climbed for the first time in 1944 by the famous couple of climbers Jeanne and Jean Franco.
The painter
Charles-Henri Contencin (1898-1955), is a French painter who painted many landscapes of mountain and high mountain of the great Alpine peaks, Mont Blanc and Massif and the Écrins mainly. His palette is characteristic. He particularly used the effects of sunrise or sunset over snow or glaciers.
Raised in the Bernese Oberland to the age of 10-12 years, it was a lifelong mountain lover. Good climber, he was a member of the French Alpine Club, where he made the connection with the Mountain Painters Society (SPM). He made the First World War in the infantry and he received the War Cross. He then worked in an architectural office and at the Compagnie des chemins de Fer du Nord before joining the french national railways company, the SNCF, where he was responsible for engineering structures.In addition to his professional designs it is also author of posters and handbills for the railways under the pseudonym "Charles-Henri." He is best known for its mountain paintings and leaves an important work.
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau
