Along with the much more famous Mont-Blanc massif, the Écrins massif embodies the French high mountain par excellence. They constitute the two highest sets of alpine mountains in France and are the only ones to include peaks over 13,123 ft (4,000 m). If the Barre des Écrins (13,474 ft / 4,107 m) is 1,932 ft (589 m) lower than the Mont-Blanc summit, the Écrins massif covers an area seven times larger than its counterpart's. It extends over the two departments of Isère and Hautes-Alpes and is home to multiple summits linked to the world history of mountaineering like that of La Meije (13,070 ft / 3,984 m) (photo).