Tag: France

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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.