The Col de l'Allimas

Gresse-en-Vercors is a small ski resort of 400 inhabitants, nestled between the eastern border of the Vercors and the Serpaton mountain pasture. The village church was built in the traditional style of the old mountain chapels. It is the oldest monument in the Gothic style of the region. Its construction goes back to the 13th century for its lower part. A great quantity of its very beautiful stones were carved on the high plateaux of the Vercors at about 1800 meters of altitude.

Gresse-en-Vercors is dominated to the south by the Grand Veymont, located in the Hautes-Plateaux reserve of Vercors, it is with its 2341 m the climax of the massif. The Pas de la Ville to the north of the Grand Veymont allows to reach the High Plateaux. It is one of the few passages that connects Gresse-en-Vercors to the heart of the massif.

The name would come from a Burgundian word. It is true that from Bourgogne to the Ardèche, the stones grow well in limestone fields! These piles of pebbles at the edge of the field are the result of the stoning patient, over time, realized by generations of obstinate peasants to gain arable land. Sometimes, they are mounted in low walls to delimit enclosures and plots.It is also a beautiful refuge for rampant wildlife in search of shelter.

In the autumn of 1943, a handful of Resistance fighters set up here in the hamlet abandoned by the Scouts and Skiers Section of the 6th Battalion of Alpine Infantrymen. They spent the winter of 1943-1944 under the command of Louis Kalck (André), with Robert Adage serving as liaison officer. Their numbers rose in the spring of 1944. The camp consisted of 37 men in July, nearly all of whom came from the region, with Achille Demaret (Potin) in command. They left in haste on July 3, 1944 after being warned about the attack by the German convoy at the Allimas pass, before making their way to the Resistance in the Vercors. The next day, July 4, the Germans destroyed the site they had left behind, burning the hamlet to the ground.