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-