Pointe de Tardevant (2501 m)

This weekend Ania planned the last hike before a trip to Poland and maybe even last in this season. She gathered a group of people and prepared for starting early Saturday. Unfortunately she got sick during night and she passed the torch to me.

We started climbing to our first destination – Lac de Tardevant (2110m) where we made a small stop for pictures.

Together with Ania we have hiked a lot this summer but we never had a perfect weather with perfect visibility. This October hike was the firs this year when for all day long there was no even a smallest cloud.  

We had the perfect view – from Mt. Blanc to Jura. Hiking with such conditions is pure pleasure, especially that even though we had full sun it was not hot.

After year of hiking I felt in Haute-Savoie Alps like in home. I was able to recognize lots of peaks around me and that feeling that I hiked lots of them was awesome 😉

Le Reculet Challenge 2014 and Le Reculet at night

This year once again BE-CO group of CERN organized „Le Reculet Challenge” walk, race and party at Le Reculet. Because I know that I have no chance in race, I took a walk and party option. Nevertheless, I still raced against myself and I was able to beat my last year time. I did it in 1:03 (as compared to 1:15 last year).

After everybody walked or run to the summit we went to chalet to eat some raclette and sing some songs.

Also I made 1:03 time to the top but I carried with me very heavy tripod (for some night sky photos). So after raclette I got back to summit and took a few photos like this:

Pointe Percée (2752m)

During the stay of our friends I wanted to show them the beauty of surrounding mountains. Unfortunately they didn’t have too much time so I needed to chose one trail that will contain everything what is grate in mountains – beautiful view from a trail, wonderful view from the top. Some exciting passages (like chains) and interesting terrain. Also it shouldn’t be too difficult and we must have good weather and visibility. Because it is impossible for one trail to meet all this requirements we needed to resign from at least one condition. We gave up on „not too difficult” and „good weather and visibility” and we went to Pointe Percée (2752m).
The hike started from the same path as our hike to Col des Verts and separated after the refuge.  
So first part was easy with very nice views. 

When we entered on route that would take us to Pointe Percée the path changed dramatically and we needed to almost climb all the way to the top. It was funny but also a bit scary especially for Michał who has vertigo.

As the path became more and more difficult the visibility also decreased. So Michał resigned from further climbing around 100m from the top, being just above clouds that spread for a moment. I continued to the top just to find out that it is directly in very dense clouds. During descend Michał said that it had been a frightening experience but totally worth it and next time he would climb to the top.

Tour Du Lac Leman

I have been thinking about a bicycle ride around lake Geneva for one year. This summer I had a great opportunity to do this because my best friend and biking buddy came to us with visit bringing his bike. So we started our journey Saturday morning and went counterclockwise around the lake. 

We rode through Geneve, Yvoire, Evian, part of Valais, Montreux, we took a longer brake in Vevey, then through beautiful Lavaux vineyards, Losaunne, Nyon and back to Saint Genis Pouilly.

The whole trip was 195 km long and took us 11h with a long break in Vevey. Our trip in Endomondo.

Mont Joly (2525 m)

Last Saturday I took Ania’s sister and cousin to Chamonix to see Aiguille Du Midi and Mer De Galce. I left them in front of the lift and went on my own to Mont Joly (2525 m). I chose this mountain because it was close to Chamonix, accessible in the current conditions and higher than the highest mountain in Poland – Rysy (2499 m). During my hike I found out that this mountain is also very popular because of a wonderful panorama to Mont Blanc massif. 

Biking to Le Reculet

Every time when I’m tiered walking down from a mountain peak, I think that this would be much easier on a bike. So this Sunday I went on my bike to Le Reculet to check this.

I rode by Le Tiocan, Col De Crozet, then through Jura and to Le Reculet.

Before I reached the summit I already knew that even if going down is easier on a bike, going up isn’t.

Ps -sorry that the photo quality is low (they are taken with a mobile phone)

Open Cellars

Switzerland is mainly known for its watches and cheese. But they also make a lot of very tasty wines. They are so good that Swiss people don’t want to share them with the rest of the world and export just 2% of their production. Fortunately we live almost in Switzerland so we can taste wines in their origin country. 
So last Saturday there was an Open Cellars festival in Vaud region (close to Geneva). For 15 CHF you could visit every of more then 300 vineyards and taste any of their wine. And there are plenty of them!

So we went to village of Tartegnin where we were able to visit 6 wine makers and taste many different wines and some local food specials.

We really enjoyed the scenery and atmosphere of this festival.  To keep it for a bit longer we bought a few bottles and brought them home.

Geneva Motor Show

As every year during my stay in Geneva I went to Geneva Auto Salon – one of the biggest car shows in the world. I’m a big fan of motorization so this show is something that I am looking forward to every year. Unfortunately, this year there were only few interesting car premieres.
For example new Fiat 500 by Renault 😉

New Lamborghini Huracan:

And some new classics: