Hauts Plateaux du Vercors and Grand Veymont, 2341 m.

Hello again,

This was indeed a nice hike. We walked over 26 Km on a long boucle in two days and we spent the night in the wild, in our new tent. Then we climbed the Grand Veymont, 2341 m, the highest summit in the massif du Vercors. We climb up, and walked down, a total of 2260 m of height difference.

We started from a spot near the nice village of Gresse-en-Vercors, 1245 m, located at about 45-min-drive south from Grenoble. It was already quite late: Saturday at 14h. We were not in a hurry, since we were planning to set-up our tent somewhere by the end of the day. We decided to climb first to the plateaux following a less common way. The path we chose climbed first to the forest-hut du Veymont, at about 1450 m, where we ate lunch. We had a nice desert of wild strawberries, picked-up from the sides of the path. And they were so sweet! :) Then the path continued to climb to about 1700 m, where it crossed over a narrow ridge... actually it went along the ridge for a while. We were in the cloud by then, and there was little to be seen. We followed the path down, back to 1300 m, into a very nice valley, covered by trees.

Then the path started to climb to the plateau to a height of over 1900 m in only 2 km: very steep. We climbed-up along a stony gully which led us straight on the plateaux by the Pas de Bachassons, where a small water source helped us to recover our water supplies. In Vercors, water is rare, and we had quite heavy backpacks: basically water, food and the tent.

We arrived on time to see the sunset over the plains of river Rhône, far on the west. By then we were already out of the mist and the sky was blue. We started descending again into the plateau in front of us, leaving the Grand Veymont behind us. We passed-by the arbre taille -carved tree- and we set-up our tent not far from the remains of a roman quarry: la carrière romaine.

The Natural Reserve of the Hauts Plateaux du Vercors covers an big area of the south of the Vercors mountain range. There are no villages there, only some small shepherd huts. The plateaux are at a height of about 1500 m. Camping is not allowed, but setting-up a tent between 19h and 8h it is tolerated if not far from the paths. Which is what we did, of course. We were rather isolated: only one tent was set near us, at about 1 km behind us, and in the morning we found some other people in a hut at 2 km ahead from us. Ah! and we found near our tent a spot where few edelweiss were growing!

The next day we walked south along the plateau, we passed-by the hut of Pré Peyret, and then the path started to turn slowly north. The plateau is covered by a very light pine and fir forest. We walked at fast pace here. By midday we were back to the area of the Pas de Bachassons, where the source was. We decided we had enough water and we started the climb of the Grand Veymont: about 900 m of height difference from the plateau. And *that* was steep! It was already afternoon and we were loaded with less water but we had the very same tent and we were already tired, so the climb was a bit hard. We stopped before the summit for lunch -surrounded by ibex, or mountain goats- , enjoying the view over the plateaux , then we walked to see the view to the other side. And that it is awesome! Especially impressive is the Mont Aiguille, a tall mountain with straight vertical rock walls and a flat green top. We could see also the Tête de l'Obiou, close-by, but also the already known Belledonne moutain range, la Meije, l'Etendard, le Taillefer... and the Mont Blanc.

We descended the Grand Veymont from the other side, the north face, and we reached the village of Gresse by the Pas de la Ville. A tough descent of over 1000 m in 2h. We reached the car 27h after we left it there the day before.

We enjoyed this hike very much, especially because we finally used our tent! but also for the great views and the amazing variety of landscapes. You will find a selection of pictures in our PICASA site. We hope you enjoy them!

Take care,
-Manu & Nina-

Refuge des Evettes, 2629 m.

Hello,

Finally, the last of our three hikes that we did the last weekend on July. The refuge des Evettes, at 2629 meters. This is a short ans relaxing hike, at the end of the Maurienne valley. Very close to the border: behind the summits it was already Italy. We had to pass trough the village of Bonneval, it is said to be one of the most beautiful in France. The road continues to the small village of l'Ecot, situated at the very end of the valley and at 2000 meters.


The path (called le chemin a John) starts from the parking in l'Ecot and crosses a fluvial plane, before it starts to climb a very stony mountain side, with little or no marked path. The glaciers are already visible, as well as the Evettes' waterfall, falling into the canyon of the same name. The rocks in this part of the canyon are very particular, and they hang from the cliff as rock platforms. One of the, called le rocher qui bouge or "the rock that moves" is really spectacular.

To get out of the canyon, is necessary to used some cable attached to the rock walls. Once on top, we could see the glacial plane and the morrenic deposits from old glaciers, crossed by a river. This river is the responsible for the mentioned waterfall. The river passes under a beautiful stone bridge, and right away it dives into the canyon. Awesome view.

After this we reached the refuge on a little hill, which dominates the glacial plane, and it has a breathtaking view over the glaciers and the summits.

The way down was way easier, from the other side of the refuge's hill, into the valley of l'Ecot.

Pictures of these wonderful landscapes are stored here. We hope you enjoy them!

Cheers,
-Manu & Nina-

Pointe de l'Observatoire, 3016 m.

Hello again,

After our first night in Ché Catrine, the chambre d'hôtes in Villarodin, we climbed our second three-thousand in France: la Point de l'Observatoire, 3016 m. A "legal" three-thousand, because, well, "legally" it has more than 3000 metres, but it is de justesse, as the French say :) .

The road starts from the village of Aussois (1473 m) - a 10 minutes drive from Villarodin- but it climbs up to 2078 m, by the dam of one of two artificial lakes, where we left the car. The path starts climbing gently and enters the Parc National de la Vanoise. Then we reached the refuge du Fond de l'Aussois (2329 m), and then the path gets more "wild" and climbs steadily to the col d'Aussois. There the path gets very stony and crossed over many creeks. Then, the last climb to the summit, 3016 m. The view is awesome! All the summits of la Vanoise and the lakes and the glaciers. Great. We just missed the Mont Blanc, because of stormy clouds. It did rain a bit at the end, but nothing serious... and a warm sauna (and a jacuzzi) were waiting for us in the Village.

Ah, yes, more pics in our picasa site.

Cheers,
-Manu & Nina-

Grand Lac and Lac Blanc, ~2450 m.

Hello there,

This is the post about our first hike during our stay in the chambre d'hotes in Savoy. We set off from Grenoble direction Modane, but, instead of taking the highroad along the Isere river valley, we took the small roads that cross over the mountains.

The starting point of this hike was the col de la Croix de Fer (2054 m), very well known by the Tour de France fans. Actually, the Tour had passed the very same col just two days before. The roads were full of signs written with chalk or painted on the asphalt, cheering the cyclists. But most dangerous, and sometimes even annoying, was the huge amount of amateur bikers climbing up the same road. It was very stressful to try to keep the car in the curvy road, passing-by one bike every 10 meters, and avoiding all kind of traffic coming in the opposite direction!

Well, we eventually did it to the col and start our nice first walk of the weekend. The path goes up quite fast to the refuge de l'Etendard, (2430 m) by two beautiful lakes: Grand Lac and Lac Blanc. We walked a bit more up, to the extreme of the southern lake, by the glacier of Saint Sorlin, but we did not go any further.

There were excellent views to the glacier from the lakes, but also excellent views to the already known by our readers, the Aigulles d'Arves and the summit of the Pic du Mas de la Grave. We walk down from the lakes through the sky station of Saint Sorlin d'Arves, closing the circle in the col.

More -and nice- pictures can be found here.

Cheers,
-Manu & Nina-

Villarodin and Ché Catrine

Hello again,

The last weekend on July we were in a nice chambre d'hôtes Ché Catrine, in Villarodin, a village in the Maurienne river valley. Very close from Modane, it is situated at the edge of the Vanoise National Parc, by the border with Italy.

The chambre d'hôtes is just great. With a nice atmosphere and charm. The house has a strange but somewhat armonious mixture of Old Savoy traditional house decorated with motifs and furniture from Tibet and everywhere else in the himalayas.

The house is divided in two: the resicence of the owners and the rooms and suites to rent. The owners are very friendly and nice, offering a great service, including advise for hiking paths. They also usually offer table d'hôtes, or home-made dinner, but we were not lucky since they did not offer the service those days.

The rooms are cozy and warm, all in wood and stone. And they have a sauna!! And a fine one. We enjoyed two nights there. During the day, we were in the wild, discovering new paths in the mountains, a total of three walks... but that is for the next posts.

Of course, you can see more pictures clicking this link.

Take care,
-Manu & Nina-

Le Taillefer, 2857 m.

Hello,

We are back with a post of pure mountain. Last July 20th we climbed up the Taillefer (2857 m). This is a very nice and beautiful hike, but quite hard, with 1200 m of height difference, and 7h30 of total hike time (of course including stops).

The walk starts in the lac du Poursollet (1658 m), accessible after a long drive along a narrow mountain road. The path leads to the second lake, the lac Fourchu, which lays on a "flat" land at the Taillefer feet. Then the fun starts. The path goes very steep and very "stony". There are several snow patches, but the path never goes trough (except intentionally). Well, actually less intentionally, since we had to cross one of them especially steep and slipery, beacuse we lost the path in opour way down. Luckily we had our piolets. But that's for the way down! :)

The way up went steadily up until the top, and there the view is breathtaking! Belledonne, Vercors, Chartreuse, les Grandes Rousses, l'Oisans... la Meije, l'Obiou, le Grand Veymont, les Aigulles d'Arves...

An iron statue of Saint Eloi, patron saint of the iron smiths, stands on the summit.

The way down was by the same route.

More pictures can be found here.

Cheers,
-Manu & Nina-