Le Rochail, Mountain summit in Isère, France

Le Rochail is a granite summit in the Écrins massif, in the Isère department, reaching 3,023 metres. Its upper part is a craggy wall of bare grey rock split into vertical ribs and gullies, with a jagged crest; below, grass and low vegetation fill the gaps between rock outcrops, and scree and boulders lie at the foot.

Le Rochail is the westernmost three-thousander of the Alps and the first such summit met when coming from Grenoble, where its snowy tops appear above the Bourg-d'Oisans plain. It forms an orographic node from which three ridges run: north-east toward l'Héritière (2,906 m) and the aiguille du Midi (2,742 m), north-west toward the pic du Col d'Ornon (2,872 m), and south toward the pointe de Malhaubert (3,049 m).

Le Rochail is one of the few 3,000-metre summits in the Écrins that can be climbed without any mountaineering skills, via the col du Rochail from either Villard-Notre-Dame or Chantelouve. Coming from Grenoble, it is the first "3,000" of the massif whose snowy tops appear above the Bourg-d'Oisans plain, and the westernmost of all the Alps.

Le Rochail is one of the few 3,000 m summits in the Écrins that can be climbed without any mountaineering skills. Both routes, from Villard-Notre-Dame or from Chantelouve, pass through the Col du Rochail. The final slopes are bare granite with scree and boulders at the foot, so sturdy footwear and sure footing matter.

Le Rochail is the westernmost of all the Alps' 3,000 m summits, and the first one seen from Grenoble when its snowy tops appear above the Bourg-d'Oisans plain. Its south ridge runs to the Pointe de Malhaubert (3,049 m), the highest point of the chain.