Tag: Hiking

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Yet another splendid hike that truly took my breath away. I am so happy I went up this route – it’s just amazing what marvels there are in mountains. La Jonction (2598 m) is the place where two glaciers join (or split – depending on the direction you chose to think about). But let me start from the beginning…

This is Glacier des Bossons:

And this is Glacier du Taconnaz:

The path leading to La Jonction is situated exactly between these two – enabling keen hikers experience „the wow effect” twice (thrice if we count also WOW at La Jonction).
At first we spotted Glacier des Bossons…

…and then Moraine de Taconnaz.

After that the path kept bouncing from one glacier to another. An interesting piece of fact: this route is a historic trail of the first ever climb to Mont Blanc mountain in 1786. The two climbers hiked up to la Jonction, stayed overnight under two big boulders (which are now called Gite a Balmat – from the name of one of them) and then successfully attacked the mountain the next day.

I was really hoping that at some point the trail will be close enough for me to touch the glacier. In the end, not only did I touch it but I also climbed on it. How cool is that?

The views were already super cool at the place I took the photos, but they were even more awesome at the Jonction. I think it was one of – if not 'the’ – most beautiful view I have seen in the mountains.

We spent almost an hour staring at the ice ahead of us, bathing in the sun rays, talking to fellow hikers, and doing photos. We had lots of fun taking the group shots (photo credit goes to Matthias and his wide angle lens). Usually I don’t like having long pauses while in the heights but this time I just couldn’t get enough of this view. I actually think that for this place I could break with my rule of not going twice to the same summit.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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!

I am very disappointed by the weather this year (almost to the point of frustration) but I try not to be held back because of it. And sometimes it is good to go hiking in unobvious conditions because you get to see marvels like the one above.
Our today’s destination was proposed by our friend Agnieszka and it’s a pass just right by Pointe Percée – a holy graal of hikers around since it’s one of the most difficult summits you can claim without specific gear. Well, you will read about Pointe Percée in my posts to come but this time it’s about Col des Verts which was actually easy and agreeable.

We started in the clouds, first on soft paths in a valley but then soon through hard rocks and stones. We didn’t have much of a view but that would change a bit on our way back.

We quickly reached the refuge and and continued to the right. At some point hope had lightened our hearts as we began to see sunny spells and blue skies patches. Soon the mist cleared completely revealing Pointe Percée and Col des Verts in its full bloom.

As we continued to the top the views became more and more stunning. We left the clouds behind our back and enjoyed the first real sun in some days.

The final part of ascent was pretty technical but short. Radek went first and as he reached the pass before me he shouted with delight. That kept me reassured! And indeed, I also couldn’t help but just whisper „wow” when I saw the other side.

We stayed on top a longer while, Radek even went to check out the path to the neighbouring Pointe Percée but capitulated shortly when it turned out it was basically a climbing route. When we started descending the clouds raised a bit and the valley below became a bit blurry but still breath taking.

Since the clouds moved a bit higher we had a chance to see some of the views we missed going up. Lovely…

Is there a better way to celebrate your 6th wedding anniversary than a life threatening experience in mountains? Well, I don’t know because I chose the risky way of commemoration… But from the start… I chose la Roche Parnal for our today hike because it was close and not too long and we didn’t want to spend the whole day in mountains. As usual, when I saw some nice technical parts of the route I got excited and decided to go for it… Well, that was the first time I have underestimated a mountain. Hopefully my last one!

That’s la Roche Parnal as seen from distance. Looks innocent!

The supposedly fun part was Col du Cable – an exposed place equipped with chains and spikes. The spikes were there to put your feet on while crossing the passage. There were a couple of problems though… Firstly, the weather was nasty. It had been raining a lot earlier and everything was wet and muddy making us slide on almost every surface. Secondly, the spikes were not evenly hammered, the distance between them was big and sometimes there were none whatsoever.

It was a rather dramatic venture to cross this passage. One false move
and we would find ourselves dangling at the cable with feet down over a
10 m almost vertical slope. Our shoes kept sliding from rocks and spikes
because everything was wet so we needed to watch our every step.
Fortunately, noone died and it is one of those experience that once you
are passed it you are able to laugh at it. Once past Col du Cable we soon reached the summit. A bit of bad luck though, because 5 minutes before reaching the top clouds came in and covered the view entirely for around half an hour.

We didn’t wait till the clouds disperse and started walking down. Of course, the clouds dispersed shortly after 🙂 On our way down we encountered lots of wild goats and a groundhog.

We kept moving on a muddy path, trying our best not to fall down. That’s Radek balancing on the route.

We soon left the rocky parts behind us and continued on through fields and grazing cows back to the car. Indeed, a very good way to celebrate our anniversary!