Tag: Hiking

We’re really having a proper ending of our stay near the Alps. Each hike brings us to more and more beautiful places. Theoretically, we know them all – we’ve seen Galcier du Tour a couple of times earlier but never in a close up like today.

Although… we were very close to resign from a todays hike and I think it was only a matter of reason that we continued. I don’t know, it never happened to me earlier that I really considered turning back on a trail, but that particular day, in temperatures exceeding 35 dg. C, it felt like a real ordeal to me do these first metres up. But eventually we made it (with lots of stops) and I don’t regret after all.

I love glaciers, I really do! It was worth every doubt, every moment of hesitance to reach it.

I can’t believe it’s over – our last hikes in this area. I have so many mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I understand that our move will bring us lots of good and that we wanted it, but on the other hand we’ll be living in the plains, so far from any mountains… So sad.

Stats: Max altitude: 2706 m, elevation gain: 1240m, duration: 5h 45min, distance: 11km

I was really looking forward to experiencing a bit of peace and quiet of the mountains after such a busy touristic week, so whenever we had a possibility, we headed to the nature. Although the weather was not perfect, I enjoyed this short walk and a bit of temperature drop.

An undeniable advantage of Sulens are animals. Donkeys, cows, horses, chickens, ducks – Sulens has it all. Wojtek really enjoyed them. There is also a nice hut on the way up offering farm-made cheese and other goodies. Worth recommending.

As we proceeded, the clouds were forming around the top so we didn’t have much (any) view but that’s fine. We know the area very well and every now and then the mist adds drama to our hiking photos.

Altitude: 1839m, Elevation gain: 540m, Length: 8km, Time: 2h50min

Holy Graal of Aravis – Pointe Percée. The first time I heard about this mountain was 2 years ago in winter when one of my colleagues proposed to hike it in ice and snow. I was wise enough to turn down this offer but put my focus on this mountain and started sniffing around the route. In the end, it’s not that often to see a T5 hiking grade. In the next two years I heard a lot about it. That one should not underestimate it, that it is extremely difficult etc. The legend of the mountain grew strong and fearsome. At some point I even decided to check it myself from a close up and I went up Col des Verts to have a look. This is when I took the most beautiful picture from all of photos I did in mountains. But we chickened out that day and didn’t hike up to Pointe Percee. But this summer is different.

There are two possible routes to Pointe Percee – a T4 one that goes up and down by the same steps; and a T5 one that goes in a loop through Col des Verts. We tried the latter. We already knew the path to the col so it went easy and smooth to reach it. A short break on the ridge and the true fun began.

There was no path as such – in principle we had to scramble the rocks all the way up to the summit. Sometimes it was a bit challanging but most of the time it was pure and utter fun for both of us. Except for maybe two very delicate and technical passages, there was nothing to fear of from my perspective.
Have a look at this short video for the notion:

And a couple of photos from the process:

Once we reached „gendarme” (a pointy rock that looks like a guard of the entrance to the other side of the mountain) we were back on a T4 path and we were only minutes from the top. Since Pointe Percee is the highest of the Aravis mountain chain, it’s pretty well-known and cared for. That is why on the top there is a huge cross and even a guest book where we left our memento.

We knew that going down would be a bit of a pain on a route like that but we really didn’t expect it would take as long as an ascent. But in the end, it’s way more difficult to descent in such conditions than to go up. Personally, I was glad when we reached Gramusset hut and the annoying rocks ended. On the car park we entered a local farm to buy some goodies – cheese, youghurts and fresh cow milk. Yummy!

Stats: length: 9.1km; Time: 5h 20min, Elevation gain: 1200 m

With no doubt a top 3 hike for us – Mont Buet. I was pretty excited to be doing this one as I know of many people who did Buet and they all underlined the magnificence of the route. We started early in the morning as the walk would be long (all in all over 8h) and the day was exceptionally hot (like all the others this summer) so we wanted to reach high altitudes by the noon.

Apparently, departure at 8 AM was still too late to avoid the heat wave and I barely reached refuge de la pierre a berard. Fortunately, soon the heights started to cool down the air and after 10 minues in the shade we continued our walk in changing landscape.

Our next stop took place at the plateau right before a final ascent to Buet. Oh dear lord, look at the views! The final metres were rather easy, although quite slow and tedious as the altitude gave us signs with shortened breath. But we made it and it was totally worth it!

Another place from our „to do list”. Last year we didn’t have weather good enough to realize all our hiking plans so we must make it up this year. Refuge du Plan Glacier is not exactly a mountain, but it’s situated in the heart of Alps, with such beautiful views on the valleys and glaciers around. We started close to Chamonix, so the area well known to us. At first the path was pretty mild, going mainly flat or with mild elevation gains.

Then we continued on a very steep, physical passage (but nothing technical) up to Col de Tricot. That was quite a work out! Up there – lots of amicable sheep craving for our lunch, lovely views and many tourists having a break.

From there on we continued in the direction to Plan Glacier refuge. Not many hikers followed our footpath as the whole tour from Gruvaz would be rather long and require a lot of stamina. That didn’t put us off though! The landscape soon changed as vegetation left place to bare rocks and we approached the glacier. Did I mention I love glaciers? 🙂

At times it got technical but nothing scary in good conditions like that day.

And finally, the refuge. I was pretty happy we finally reached it, I was a bit worn down by this long ascent. We sat down under the shelter, ordered some local goodies, studied the map and ate some chocolate (thanks Arnaud!). The glacier was at my fingertips, really and every time I find myself in such a situation I just want to put on the gear and continue… I guess some day I’ll grow to this and we’ll start mountaineering. I think Arnaud had the same feelings because two weeks later he went on a trip with his friend and the route they covered was from Plan Glacier, to the next refuge (crossing the glacier) and up to the neighbouring mountain. But that required the gear and skills that we currently don’t have. I’ll put it on my „dreams wish list”.

Stats: Length: ~20km, duration: 7h 45min, elevation gain: 1650m.

Holidays! Our first outing – Jallouvre. Not too difficult but also not too easy – just fine for the start of the season. And the views…

After a mild and longish start where we somehow managed to lose a path, we began the ascent. We were moving quite quickly wanting to leave the heat behind and reach cooler temperatures in hights.

We were fast so we reached the fun part in no time. I knew we would be going on a dramatic ridge but apparently we became too much of daredevils as our heart rates didn’t speed for a second while crossing it. But it’s always fun to go past such a technical passage.

After the ridge there was a short steep passage and the top already. The views were truly amazing.

Stats: Length: 13 km; Elevation gain: 900m; Time: 4h

What can you do when the temperature rises to 40 dg. C? Go to a beach or in the mountains. But the latter is also quite an extreme experience unless until you reach elevation of around 2k. I had a chance to learn it. My today walk with Arnaud wasn’t really challenging but the heat wave made it super difficult in the beginning. Also, I forgot my camera so the quality of photos leaves a lot to be desired. Therefore I show you only a couple – just to give you a taste of the views we had. I regret just one thing – I should have jumped in that lake!

Today we made a family walk in valley of Bionnassay. Five adults, three babies, 7 kilometres, 500 m elevation gain and one suspension bridge – that was the plan for today. We had lots of fun together, it’s nice to be watching kids discover the beauty of nature.

There is really not that much to say about this trip. We escaped the heat (over 30 dg. in the plains) to a nice mountain breeze, we enjoyed the easy path and had lots of fun crossing the passerelle. We will soon be back in this region with Radek, but we plan to do a more challenging hike that will lead us to the glaciers that we can see in the pictures. So stay tuned!

Last time I did 3 tops, today a step back as we are doing only two. But… two way more challenging than the previous ones. Now I know I will leave the area in th end of August so I have only a couple of weeks left to hike all the tops that are on my must-see list. Mont Billiat is one of them as it defeated me last year (see this post). I can never stand being defeated by a mountain and I always come back when I can to take my revenge. Just like this time.

We reached Mont Billiat very quickly, the ascent was relatively easy.

From that point true fun began. To reach Pointe d’Ireuse we needed to traverse an exposed ridge of a neighbouring hill. It was a real amusement this route. It was exposed and difficult at places but nothing too serious and we all enjoyed the walk. Sergey even decided to do some yoga (see title photo) – quite an acrobatics to me.

We were seeing this vertical wall at the end of our route and were wondering how on earth would we go past that. It turned out it was equipped with chains but that didn’t help me much. My two colleagues both were taller than me and had climbing experience. They managed to climb up but I struggled a lot. At certain point I lifted my leg to reach an edging but didn’t manage to raise my body and found myself hanging on the cliff having one hand on the chain and the other in Misha’s hand. That was funny. I happen to have a video of this somewhat dramatic moment but I’ll keep it to myself. I stayed calm and with Misha’s help I managed to find a way out. Maybe it wasn’t in line with climbing rules but at least I didn’t hang anymore 🙂

That was one last adrenaline spike of the day. From this point we easily reached Pointe d’Ireuse and back to the car. Lovely day.

We’re benefiting from nice weather and mountains just across our village… Crozet is like 10 minute drive from our place – the closest we can reach a hike starting point. Jura is nice to be explored with babies as there are no technical difficulties whatosoever and the views are rewarding. It’s a pity I forgot my camera SD card so photos quality is so-so.