Mountain refuge Cabanes de la Selle (Hte Bléone)

High ladders, open relief and an already clearly mountainous environment mark the Haute-Bléone in the Alpes de Alta Provence. In this context, the Cabans de la Selle (Hte Bléone) at 1,909 metres, within the term of Prads-Haute-Bléone , in a strip where the valley begins to give way to drier, stony and exposed grounds of higher levels.

More than a destination in itself, this free shelter works as a useful reference to focus on the map and understand the organization of the ground. Its position helps to read the transition between valley funds and high areas that look to nearby summits like Sommet de Valdemars or Mourre Gros . This proximity to reliefs above 2,500 meters gives it an alpine character, even if there is no data here to link it to specific signposted routes.

For hiking and mountain in the area, its usefulness seems to be more linked to the timely support, to divide a day or to serve as a walking coat than to a clearly documented network of routes. The absence of defined near routes advises not to plan specific links, stages or promotions without detailed mapping and prior field check. In such a sector, the navigation and reading of relief weigh as much as the distance.

Reasonable autonomy is also needed. Although there are invented sources in the wide environment, the nearest one is more than 4 kilometres away, so it is not wise to take immediate water from the shelter. The altitude, exposure and possible time variation in this part of the Alpine Provence reinforce the need to leave with a margin in water, shelter and adaptive capacity.

Anyone who consults this cabane as a support point will find above all a useful reference in a little banalized mountain sector, where the shelter helps to structure the day and to be located between the Bléone valley and the high lomas that close its header.