Tag: France

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.

Today’s hike is special because I am doing not one – not two – but three different peaks. Pointe de Chalune is already known to us as Radek made a try to claim it in winter with a pair of our friends (see here). Haute Pointe was on my winter to do list but I chickened out at the very last moment and decided to go for something easier. So now – my try in summer for these mountains.

First on: Haute Pointe (1958m)

From there we wanted to traverse the ridge straight on to Pointe de Chavasse (2012m) but we were not sure if it was doable (it was – I checked later) and chose the longer route that was also on our maps.

Last on the list: Pointe de Chalune (2116 m)
The weather turned bad and we needed to race with the clouds and thunders we heard not far from us. Fortunately, we won!