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-