Christmas Eve in Grenoble

Merry Christmas from Grenoble!!




-Manu & Nina-

Snowshoeing in Lac Achard, 1917m.

Hello there.

As promised, here you find our first wintry post after the hiking season. We've been in the already well known Lac Achard, near the ski station of Chamrousse, in Belledonne mountain range. The station is one of the closest to Grenoble, only 40 minutes drive in our slow, old car. Details from the ski station were posted before.

For the snowshoe walk, we followed the well known path from Roche-Berenger to the lake and back. There was plenty of snow, about 80 cm during all the walk. The lake was, of course, totally frozen and we could walk over it to our favorite lunch spot. This time was very different! We drank warm tea and enjoyed the great landscape and the even greater silence! :) The day was not cold, but the snow was fresh an in very good conditions. The sun was shining and we were sweating in our winter jackets. We did many pictures and a selection can be found here.

-Manu & Nina-

P.S.: Merry Christmas all of you and our best wishes for the New Year 2008!!

La Dent de Crolles, 2062 m.

Hi there,

This was our last excursion to the mountains of the hiking season. More likely next posts will include snow shoes or skis :)
La Dent de Crolles it is a classical of the hikes around Grenoble. Quite easy and close to town, it has really good views over the Belledonne mountain range and the city. This day was cloudy and gray down in the valley, but very sunny and even warm over 1000 metres. we took some nice pictures of the 'cloud sea'. The hike starts from the Col du Coq, at about 30 minutes drive from downtown. The hike starts easy, but it gets steep very soon. Near the summit, some low level mountaineering is needed, but a well placed cable helps the maneuver. Nothing complicated at all. After 2h30m we reached the summit. A nice surprise was waiting for us: the Mont Blanc was clearly visible, almost at hand. Always a beautiful sight!! We descended from another pass. There we found some centimeters of snow. More cables and a funny pass along a narrow crack on the mountain. You can find pictures of that crack and more in here.

It was a great hike, beautiful and fun, with great views and a lovely sunny day! Just great!

Cheers,
-Manu & Nina-

Col Vert, 1766 m.

Hello!

It has been a long time since our last post.
We've been quite busy, sorry! :/

More than one month ago now, we went with a group of friends to the Col Vert in the Vercors mountain range. The path starts from Villard-de-Lans and climbs up gently to the col. It was a very cold day, but the colours of the nature were awsome and it was sunny. The forest is great in fall!! Sometimes we walked on icy mud. A total of 600 metres height difference and a bit more of 4 hours walk, a nice Sunday walk. Find more pictures here.

Cheers,
-Manu & Nina-

Sources de la Romanche, 2143 m.

Hello again,

Last Monday, the next day after visiting le refuge de la Pilatte, we went to the sources of the river Romanche. We spent the night in a gîte d'Etape near Saint-Cristop-en-Oisans. The place was quite nice and cheap, with excellent fondue!

Back to the sources... river Romanche flows along the valley next to the north from La Berarde. We were forced to drive 1h from the gîte to Villard-d'Arenes (1667 m), the starting point of the walk. This village is couple of kilometers away from La Grave, already known by the readers of this blog.

This time we walked 7h, including the already traditional 1h lunch-break and siesta. The path goes along the river almost all the time. It starts quite steep, but soon becomes very flat for many kilometers. Almost at the end of the trip it climbs again slightly, to reach the sources, at 2143 m. The sources, are not very spectacular, but they are located in a narrow and deep valley. The summits around are all over 3000 m and the glaciers hung from the high cliffs everywhere.

As usual, you'll find more pictures here.

Cheers,
-Manu & Nina-

Refuge de la Pilatte, 2577 m.

Hello there,

Last weedend we were two days in a row in the mountains. Sunday we went to the refuge de la Pilatte, at the end of the long path from the village of La Berarde (1713 m), on the edges of the National Park of Les Ecrins.

We followed a longer variation of the typical path, which goes along the valley of river Veneon. This variation makes it one hour longer, but the path goes up on the slopes of the valley, and the view is better.

The walk is almost flat until the last part, were it climbs fast to reach the refuge at 2577 m.

The refuge faces directly the beautiful glacier de la Pilatte. In total, we walked 20 km during a 8h-long walk... but we did have a veru nice 1h lunch/siesta-break up on the refuge's terrace, enjoying the amazing landscape.

More pictures available here.

Cheers,
-Manu & Nina-

Chamechaude, 2082 m.

Hello again,

September 15th. This day we did the summit of Chartreuse: Le Chamechaude, 2082 m. This is a short but quite steep walk, starting from the Col de Porte, 1326 m. The walk is rather easy and the path is clearly marked. The last 20 m include a real 'climb' up a vertical stone wall of about 15 m. There is a cable installed in the wall for security. In the summit there is a wooden cross. This day we ate tartiflette, cooked (and carried all the way up) by one of our friends.

As usual, a selection of pictures can be found in our Picasa site.

Cheers,
-Manu & Nina-

L'Eimendras, Chartreuse

Hello there.

After a long break, here we are with a new post. We have not been
idle during these couple of weeks. Last September 9th we walked to the shepherd's cabin of L'Eimendras in the Chartreuse massif. It is a nice beautiful walk in mid-mountain, under the forest. The walk starts from the village of Le Sappey-en-Chartreuse, at just 12 km from downtown Grenoble. The day was warm and sunny most of the time, but the valley of Grenoble was covered by thick mist.

A selection of pictures can be found here.

Cheers,
-Manu y Nina-

Adventure in the Forest

Hello!

Yesterday we went with a group of friends to an adventure park, near the Laffrey village and lake. We were hunging from the trees like monkeys and we had great fun :) The whole idea is to climb to the trees and cross from one to another along metal cables or ropes... yes, there was also a Tarzan jump. Very funny but quite hard sometimes. The most difficult route was pretty high on the trees, but ended with a long and funny tyrolienne.

Pictures, and videos! can be seen here.

Cheers,

-Manu & Nina-

Les Sept Laux

Hi there,

Last Sunday we walked up to the Sept Laux, the Seven Lakes, in the massif of Belledonne. We did it with a group of friends. We were 10 in total and we had great fun, and a nice lunch and an even better chestnut cake:). The hike begins from the village of Fond-de-France (1100 m), the Bottom-of-France (?), and ends in a narrow plateau at about 2100 m, with seven lakes scattered along it. It is a relatively short climb 3 1/2 h, but with an important height difference, 1000 meters! And the landscape is really worth it. There was some fresh snow in the summits, as fresh as from last Thursday, when it snowed just over 1800 m in Belledonne (as much as 20 cm were measured near the Mont Blanc).

If you want to see more pictures, you will find some in our Picasa web-site.

Until our next post.

-Manu & Nina-

P.S.: Feel free to leave comments! (no need to register anymore).

Our First Three-thousand

Hi there.

We did it. After the almost-there of La Croix de Belledonne we've finally broken the 3000 meters barrier. The summit of the Pic du Mas de la Grave stands 3020 m over the sea level. Yeah, just 20 metres, but it is above the limit! :) During this hike, we were guided by two of our friends.

The climb starts from the already kwown village of le Chazelet (1800 m), with a nice path which steadilly clims up to 2005 m in about 5 km walk. Then starts the fun. The path climbs across green slopes full of sheeps and lambs, to about 2500 m, on a heavy slope. After this, the grass changes for stones and the climb gets even harder. The path climbs the last 500 m almost in a straight line along the slope. Legs were hurting, but the firts grasps of the wonderful view gave the neecessary strength. Some eagles were flying near us! The last meters, we had to walk a narrow and a bit exposed (but safe) ridge. Finally, after a 4 1/2 hours walk, we reached the summit, 3020 m!!

From the summit, the view was (is!) breathtaking in all 360 degrees around. From la Meije and the Rateau with their glaciers, to the massif des Grandes Rousses. We could see the ski stations of Alpe d'Huez and Deux Alpes. On the horizon the Mont Blanc, taller than anything around it. But especially impresive were the Aiguilles d'Arves. These are three tall granite peaks that emerge 500 m from the top of a large mountain, which is itself more than 3000 m high. Spectacular.

After having lunch in the summit and writing on the livre d'or, we started the descent, following the same path we just used. Long, long, long way down. We reached le Chazelet 9 1/2 hours after we left it in the morning. Uf! but it was soooo beautiful! We will always remember this hike and the gorgeous views. A selection of very nice pictures are available here. Enjoy them!

Until our next post.

-Manu & Nina-

La Croix de Belledonne

Hello again,

This weekend we climbed to the Croix de Belledonne, 2926 m, the highest easily accessible point of the Belledonne mountain range. This hike it is especially beautiful but also quite hard: more than 1600 m of height difference makes it difficult. We did it in two days, to minimize the walk, but we had to carry the tent (kindly borrowed by our friends), water and food for two days.
On Saturday, we leaved the car parking at 1283 m and we first climbed-up to the lake Crozet, at 1974 m. Then we attained the mountain pass and descended couple of hundred meters to the prairie of la Pra, were we camped. Total walk 4 1/2 hours.

Sunday morning we were waken-up by the goats and the shepherd dogs. After a cup of tea we resumed the ascension to the summit. First to the lakes du Domenon (2380m) and through many snow deposits to the summit, at almost 3000 m. We did this other part in 4 hours. In the very top stands a wooden cross, from which the peak gets its name. The view from the top is awesome: the mountain ranges Chartreuse and Vercors are clearly visible, but also the glaciers of the Grandes Rousses (Alpe d'Huez) and Oisans-Ecrins (Deux Alpes).


After a second cup of tea and lunch, we start the 4 hours (again!) walk down to the car. All-in-all, it was a very nice weekend in the mountains, and today Monday, my legs hurt nicely when I use the stairs (hehe). As usual, a selection of pictures can be seen in our Picasa web-site.

Until our next post.

Cheers,
-Manu & Nina-

Le Plateau d'Emparis

Hello,

Last Sunday we were in the Plateau d'Emparis, situated near the village of La Grave. You may remember our adventure in the glaciers of La Meije, last winter... well, we were on the other side of the valley, facing the glaciers. An impresive alpine landscape and beautiful mountain lakes.


The cows were present on the alpages, and the sound of the waterfalls could be heard almost all the time. These waterfalls are gorgeous and beautiful, but sadly they are also the last "cry" of the melting glaciers.

We visited two mountains lakes, the lac Leriel and the lac Noir. These two lakes are considered to be natural mirrors of the glaciers.

As usual, more pictures can be seen in this link.

Cheers,
-Manu y Nina-

Midsummer Adventure

Hello again,

This weekend was the Midsummer Festival, also known as Juhannus or even San Juan. Midsummer is celebrated some days after the summer solsticium. In France It has been substituted by the music festival Fête de la Musique, the very same day of the solsticium.

Well, the thing is that this year, we've decided to have our own Midsummer Festival. So, we packed our backpacks, we took our water bottles and maps, we wear our mountain boots and we headed to the Massif des Ecrins, and we enjoyed two lovely walks on the edges of the Ecrin's National Park.

The Massif des Ecrins contain the higher summits in the southern Alps. But do not worry, dear reader, we didn't climb those summits. We did walk quite a lot just below 2000 meters, though. And the weather was fantastic, warm and sunny.

First day, saturday, we climb from St. Christophe-en-Oisans to the refuge of Alpe du Pin, closing a 5h boucle, passing by many waterfalls.

We spent midsummer night in the village of Venosc, which is part of the ski station les Deux-Alpes, were we found aguest house with a sauna. We profit of the party in the village: we ate sausages and french (of course) fries, and we danced in the party.


Next day we visited the Lauvitel lake, near Venosc. Another 3h hours walk, back and forth, to the lake. very beautiful sight, and many other waterfalls! The high temperature was the responsible for so many waterfalls and the rivers fulls of white noisy water: the glaciers are melting! :(

As usual, you can see more pictures in our Picasa photo album. Enjoy them!

Cheers,
-Manu & Nina-

Le Conex

Hello,

One week ago we were with our friends in in the mountain Conex, not far from the Laffrey lake, on the road from Grenoble to Gap (the famous Napoleon Route).

It is a cone-shaped hill covered with grass and full of cows. The view from the summit is fantastic, over the massifs of Chartreuse and Belledone. The landscape the typical alpine country side, so many times seen in the chocolate comercials :)


As usual, more pictures are available here.

Cheers,
-Manu y Nina-

Crêtes de la Molière

Hello,

Last weekend we've been doing some randonee in the massif of Vercors. We climb up the Crêtes de la Molière starting from the village of Autrans. This is another beautiful walk, with great views over the Isère river valley and the Vercors plateau. The total walk was about 5 hours, not including the 1 hour picnic-siesta break! We just missed the tarte de myrtilles from the refuge, because it was closed! But we'll go back.

The day was not totally good, and we had some wind, especially along the ridge, but we had a lot of fun. Nina did a crown of flowers for herself, luckily none of the many especies protected by law in Vercors!, just a bunch of pissenlit (dandelion).

As usual, more pictures are available in our Picasa photo-storage site, available clicking here.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

Cheers,
-Manu & Nina-

Pays Voironnais

Hi there,

Last friday we've visited the region known as the "Pays Voironnais". It is situated at about 30 km to the northwest from Grenoble.

It's a beautiful area surrounding the Paladru lake. The region spans along a pre-alpine range of hills, and it is covered by beautiful forests. The landscape is amazing.

The 'capital' of the region is the town of Voiron.

We drove 160 Km along secondary roads, and we discovered many little villages in the middle of great green fields and forests. More pictures available here.



Cheers,
-Manu & Nina-

Côte d'Azur

Hi there,

Last Tuesday, May 8th, was holiday in France. Therefore, we've done "the bridge" (le pont) and took also Monday off. A lovely trick to spend 4 fantastic days (from Saturday to Tuesday) in the French Riviera (la Côte d'Azur), in the village of Les Issambres, half-way between Saint Tropez and Frèjus, not far from Cannes.

The weather was rainy Saturday but very good the rest of the time, with the temperature in the lower twenties. The water was cold, though, but not enough to avoid short (but intense) baths. Together with, sunbath, volleyball, sand-games, freesbee and archery (with a surprising win of th team "Manu & Nina" in the later). We also eat very well, thanks to our friends. Portugese bacallao was especially good.

We also witnessed the election of the new President of France in a bar in the port of Saint Tropez. When they gave the first preliminary results, the big crowd present there shouted of joy, very, very loud. Yes, Saint Trop' is a well known right-wing town.

As usual, more pictures can be seen here.

Cheers,
-Manu & Nina-

On the Summit of Isere Region

Hi there,

We've also been visiting the Glaciers in la Meije, the highest summit in the region Isere, were Grenoble is located. La Meije stands at 3,984 metres over the see level, on Les Ecrins mountain range.






The glaciers at 3,200 meters can be reached in a bit more than 30 minutes by a cable-car departing from the village of La Grave at 'only' 1,450 meters. A beautiful ride. Of course this is also a ski station, well know for beeing one of the fews 'just for off-piste'. We didn't try, but next year... well, next year we shall see :P

As usual, more pictures are available here.



Greetings from the Alps,


-Manu & Nina-

Cross Country Skiing

Hello,

Few weeks ago we went to Correncon-en-Vercors, for cross-country skiing. The snow was not at its best, but the day was great: sunny and cold! Correncon is located in the Vercors mountain range, very close to Grenoble.

More pictures can be seen here.

Greetings from the Alps,

-Manu & Nina-

Visit to Lyon

Hi there.

This is our first post in this Blog, where you can read about our experiences and adventures.

We went to visit Lyon, profiting from a course that Manu had there. We walked a lot and ate very well, and the weather was almost good :)
The pic is from the Roman amphitheater. More pics from Lyon can be seen here.

See you in the next post!

Hugs,
Manu & Nina