Stage 4: Ascu Stagnu → Tighjettu

6 km from Ascu Stagnu (Haut-Asco) (1422 m) to Refuge de Tighjettu (1683 m), with 830 m of ascent and 560 m of descent.

Walking time by fitness profile

Times computed with the RandoNav planning algorithm. Breaks not included.

On the trail

This is the big one. Since the Cirque de la Solitude was closed after the fatal accident of 2015, the GR20 has climbed instead over the Pointe des Éboulis at 2,607 m — the highest point of the entire trail — and the stage from Ascu Stagnu is now the route's single biggest sustained climb. Leave at dawn: the ascent out of the ski station is long, stony and increasingly lunar, following cairns and paint flashes up a vast scree-and-slab ramp where snow can linger well into summer. Fit hikers drop their packs near the top and tag Monte Cinto itself, Corsica's 2,706 m rooftop, but the col alone earns its bragging rights.

The view from the Pointe des Éboulis is a full-circle reward — ridgelines stacked to the horizon, the sea on both sides on a clear day. Then comes the sting: a steep, seemingly endless descent over boulders and ledges into the Tighjettu valley, hard on the knees and harder on morale by mid-afternoon. Refuge de Tighjettu, perched on its rocky spur at 1,683 m, appears just when you need it. Sleep well; you've crossed the roof of the GR20.

Start / end

About this stage

Stage 4 links Ascu Stagnu (Haut-Asco) (1422 m) with Refuge de Tighjettu (1683 m) over 6 km, climbing 830 m and descending 560 m. This stage lies in the northern half of the GR20 (before Vizzavona), the rockier and more technical part of the trail. Water is available at every stop on this stage.