sierpień 2014 – Like This Blog

Aiguillette des Posettes (2201 m)

We hesitated till the last moment with a decision what to do with the day. A quick look at the forecasts… Ok, looks like a fine day for hiking. It was not our first time in mountains with our baby boy, but the most serious outing without a doubt. Technically the route was the easiest one you could have, but it was not that short and moderate when it comes to elevation gain – Aiguillette des Posettes (2201 m).

Yet again, I wa ssurprised by the colours in higher parts. It’s summer in plains, but fall in mountains and I love it!
Our road led through a forest up to Col des Posettes. When we reached it we experienced what I call „the WOW effect”. Beautiful landscape on the surrounding mountain and La Tour glacier. It’s a pity that clouds covered it a bit but still, it was amazing.

From there we continued through more and more colurful surroundings to reach the top. We had the glacier on our right side continuosly so we watched it showing up and disappearing behind the clouds.

Originally we planned to do a loop but because the weather was changing we decided to go back by the route we already covered. Distance-wise it was similar but at least we knew what to expect and there was also a possibility to take the cable car down in case of rain.

I really enjoyed this walk. Autumn… It makes me melancholic!

Col de la Terrasse (2645 m)

It’s been a while I did a serious hike so I was looking up to this one. Col de la Terrasse (2645 m) is situated in a beautiful terrain around French-Suisse border. The peaks that are there differ from the ones I know, as they are more harsh, with plain rocks or lunar sand. Really beautiful!

I started my day going through a forest with a group of CERN colleagues. Humid but warm weather is favourable for mushrooms but I’m no picker. I guess the red ones were inedible anyway.
When we left the forest we entered the fields. It’s the first time this season that I saw autumn pushing forward. The colours were amazing – yellow, brown and red. Is it really fall time? I haven’t had enough of summer yet!

After Chalets de Loriaz we were constantly haunted by the clouds. we somehow managed to get away from them but they limited our view consistently. In the end, I was happy they didn’t hide everything from our eyes. For example we were able to spot a pack of chamois grazing somewhere by the snow. Or a groundhog – always a treat to see!

When we sat for a snack break the clouds played hide and seek with us. Sometimes we could see the sky, sometimes we couldn’t. It was the same with our destination – every now and then it would show up behind the fog. We were hoping to have at least some view when we reach the pass. Final meters were more difficult but nothing too bad.

And here it is – Col de la Terasse. Although visibility was not perfect, it definitely was good enough to make me marvel. Pointy, rocky tops, red and black stone, and before all – the lakes!

The lakes were really stunning. There were at least a couple of them and they looked differently from each angle. That is why I took tons of photos of them – I just couoldn’t resist. I usually make this a tradition to dip my feet in mountain puddles but not this time! The snow there is not without a reason. It was pretty windy and cold!

Ok, enough of the lakes… Let’s move on to pink and red rock. I haven’t seen such colours in the mountain yet. I wonder what kind of stone is that – painted in unicorn’s colours 🙂

Time to leave the clay valley and move on to pastures of green and waterfalls. That was pretty awesome too. It’s a pity we didn’t see the top of Buet mountain but Buet is already on my to-do list for some time so I will be back for sure!

The last part of the route led through a valley, along a stream and Buet mountain. Final look on the pastel colours that aren’t there yet in the plains and back to summer in lower parts.

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.

Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval

Usually I don’t like going to the same mountain places again, but we made an exception for Sixt-Fer-a-Cheval which we already saw last year. The route which is called Cirque du Fer a Cheval is a very nice 4-hour walk in the valley of Alps. It’s specialty – waterfalls and no technical difficulty (it’s more of walk rather than hike).

It’s a pity that many of the waterfalls were dried already. I imagine this place must be enchanting in spring, when all the snow is melting. For now, the only remains of snow in the valley is the icy cold water flowing from the peaks. Brrr… It felt freezing even when washing hands, I can’t imagine wading in as Michał and Radek did! I want even mention Michał’s dive under the waterfall. That is just crazy!!!

After a chilling bath we soon reached the end of the valley. The route then goes to the other side of the river through a suspended bridge. There were so many people that day that we actually had to queue…

When we finished the round trip, we weren’t done for the day. Michał liked his waterfall shower so much that he wanted to go for a second one that day. And so we went to Cascade du Rouget – also known as the queen of Alps. This magnificent waterfall is over 80m high and forms two steps, splattering water at both levels. It was truly spectacular, cold and noisy. Of course, it was a bit too epic to swim under, but Michał approached pretty close and I think we can count his second waterfall shower as done.

Pit stop: Vevey

As Radek and Michał were riding round Lake Geneva, we decided to meet them somewhere half way. After a short discussion we chose Vevey for our meeting point. This little city is well known for Charlie Chaplin who lived and died there, as well as for propagation of the slow and healthy food.
When we arrived guys were already there waiting for us at the lake shore. We grabbed a bite, talked for a while and then they wanted to move on having still quite a distance to cover. So I stayed with Magda and walked around the city.

I liked the walk a lot as there where many little details about this place that made it unique and very vivid. When we went past the old part of the town, we moved on to the shore again and continued along a promenade, admiring various statues and installations scattered all over. We didn’t get to see the alimentarium museum – this will have to wait for our next visit!

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.

Wine tasting in Féchy

We’re very happy to host in our place our best friends Magda and Michał. I just can’t imagine not taking them to wine tasting – it’s always so much fun! We planned to visit a lot of caves, but as usual, we overestimated our possibilities when it comes to visiting those places and finished up seeing two. I won’t write „just” two because two was definately enough 🙂

We decided to go for a new destination – Féchy. It’s a very small place but full of vineyards. Our first one – Domaine La Colombe turned out to be a real hit! We stayed there for over an hour, chatting to the owner, getting to know all bits and pieces of wine making and of course… tasting! But I also appreciate the artsy part of those tours. Each cave has its own unique style, full of little quaint wine-making related art items.

From there we moved through Féchy to find another spot to sit. What a lovely village! It’s situated on a hill from where we could see Lac Leman and the surrounding vineyards.

Most of the places were already closed since we overstayed our visit at Colombe Cave. We managed to find one place though – Cave La Goutte de l’Amitié – which welcomed us with open hands. It was a completely different place than the previous one. It was small and living up to the expectation of its name („Drop of Friendship”). We were greeted by the two elderly owners who sat with us by the table and drank the wine with us as we tasted their makes. That was really nice and on top of that I got to practice my French!

We would love to stay longer but it was getting late and it was time to get going back. As we bough a couple of bottles, said goodbye and left the place, we were stunned by the rainbow over the lake. I imagine it should happen quite often here, yet I don’t remeber having seen it earlier. Bye, bye, Féchy!

Haute Cime des Dents du Midi (3257 m)

This is a biggie… Our first mountain over 3k elevation – Dents du Midi – well known around for rewarding hikers for their efforts.
I have planned this trip for long. I knew this would be a cherry on a pie this year, I talked with many people who tried hiking it. I didn’t find it suspicious that all of them said it was a very easy mountain and yet, none of them had actually made it to the top! Now I kind of understand it more…
Dents du Midi is a series of seven summits, Haute Cime being the highest and the only hikeable of them. 3257 m – that what it is!

We started by a clear blue skies, on a beautiful morning, and soon reached lac de Salanfe. Haute Cime was towering right above the lake, inviting us to continue on walking. Boy, we were really excited by this hike!

The greenery was gradually perishing, leaving us with rocky views.

Most hikers split this trip to two days, staying overnight at Sulanfe hut. We decided to have all the fun in one day, which would be around 9 hours and over 20 km in distance. Thanks to this approach we were kind of the only ones at the trail up, since all other mountain lovers were already descending when we were in a quarter of our way to the top.

Col de Susanfe and its lunar surroundings. Already tired but not yet expecting the difficulties to come…

We went past all the hikers at Col de Susanfe and began our lonely duel with the mountain. For the first time in my life I experienced this feeling of a battle with still nature. The fact that we became the only ones on the trail was menacing to me. The weather was getting worse and worse. We had a very strong wind (I checked later, it was around 80 km/h) and clouds were lurking in. The shortness of breath became more and more apparent due to lack of oxygen but the worst thing was – we lost the trail! Technically the mountain was easy – that’s true. But in the end most of my colleagues who didn’t finish this hike said they would turn back because they were lost. And it’s true, it was very easy to lose the path and unfortunately we did. We ended up hiking on a gravel that made us slide down with every step. I don’t want to sound dramatic but it was a real challenge to us to fight these conditions.

The pictures above are taken from Col de Paresseux – Pass of the Lazy. I guess the name is taken from the fact that many people turn back at this point. We continued, but the final 200 m were dreadful. Clouds finally covered the view, we were exhausted, cold and anxious about being alone in the mountains. But we made it and I am very proud of that.

We had no views at the top but we were so tired we didn’t even care. Now I do care of course 🙂 It’s a pity you can’t see the abyss below the wobbling cross that made me hold my breath. I have to say, I did feel reassured when we started descending.

Tour of Rochers des Fiz through Col d’Anterne (2257 m)

I officialy claim this my favourite hike till now (but I do have a couple of exciting plans so the detronization will be possible). Rochers des Fiz is a mountain chain very close to Mont Blanc that we decided to get to know inside out. And so we did a ~27 km hike with elevation gain of ~1600 m going round the huge massif of Fiz with Col d’Anterne as our destination point. The variety of terrain struck me, but no wonder, as we covered all possible directions, sun expositions and different elevations.
We started gently by the woods, through the chalets and up to Passage du Dérochoir which was a fun scramble up ladders and chains.

Clouds were trying to creep in but dissolved by the time we reached them. Mont Blanc accompanied us every now and then (playing hide and seek behind the clouds).

Soon the landscape changed as we started struggling through plain rocks and boulders. This topography is always fun!

Before reaching the vertical passage we had a final chance to gather strength and courage, and have a peek on Mt Balnc.

So there it is… Anyone has vertigo?

And finally – reward – namely the views at the other side of the rocks. A beautiful green valley awaited us. After a vertical climb we could enjoy a mild descent and then flat parts at the foot of the mountains.

When we reached the end of the valley we were exposed to yet another change of topography – countless waterfalls. They were huge and numerous and I loved them! We didn’t linger too long though as it was not even half of our way yet.

From there we made a turn and had more meters up of hiking to reach the other side of the mountain chain. After a while we could see the famous wall of the Fiz mountains. Very impressive.

From there we had yet another hike (we were hoping it would be the last one but it wasn’t) to reach Lac d’Anterne. So, a final look on the refuge and another view change.

By this time we were pretty exhausted and we still had a final hike to Col d’Anterne ahead of us. On top of that, the weather was changing and we were afraid the showers that were forecast might actually occur. So we gathered our strength and continued. At the col Mt Blanc reemerged but we rushed down very quickly. On our way to the car we had a couple of drops but the thunders we heard in the distance didn’t reach us fortunately. We were to tired and in a hurry to do photos though… In any case, that was an awesome hike!