We’ve had another week of glorious sunshine and have been out in the mountains every day. The search for untracked snow is becoming more difficult as we’ve had no snow for three weeks. But we’ve done two lovely off-piste runs, the Itineraire Les Lanchettes above Villaroger and a revisit of the Col Grainier in Ste Foy.
Our friend Sally arrived on Wednesday evening after a long journey from Antwerp, made even longer by train delays and cancellations. Due to Covid restrictions and living or travelling in different parts of Europe, we haven’t been able to catch up for over three years. It’s fantastic to now be meeting up with long lost friends.
After travelling across the fog-bound lowlands Sal was really keen to get out into the mountain sunshine. We hired raquettes and headed off to Peisey to discover the joy of snow-shoeing.
We had a lovely walk along an easy path to the Chapel of Notre Dame des Vernettes. En route we spotted a golden eagle soaring down the valley and amazingly close to such a busy area. From the outside the chapel looks unremarkable but once inside it is an amazing feast for the eyes. Every aspect of the space is covered in richly coloured murals: religious figures; a huge array of animals including birds, cows and tigers; harps and musical notes and thousands of angels. All are beautifully preserved.
The walk was just the right length to make us feel that we had the knack of snowshoeing, although we had to check out a YouTube video to see whether we were actually doing it right. We were, perhaps, a little less stylish than some of the demos.
On Friday we headed out for a longer walk and climbed the valley from La Masure to La Savonne towards the Refuge du Ruitor. It was another fabulous day and we climbed about 700m, with the snowshoes really coming into their own as we moved from compact snow on the path to icy and breakable crust. The scenery is stunning and we were very tempted to spend the night in the hut. We’ll definitely go back there soon, armed with food and sleeping bags.
Our third day on snowshoes took us to the Dome de Vaugelas just above Bourg St Maurice. We walked for 14km and ascended 700m but did not quite reach the cairn at the top. We really hadn’t realised how much extra exercise you do when walking on snowshoes. The ascent on skis feels much easier and definitely smoother, whilst the descent is immeasurably easier and quicker even when the snow is chussed up and icy. By the end of the day my legs were really feeling the burn and I was begging to be back on my touring skis.
We waved Sally off from Bourg yesterday afternoon having had a wonderful few days of catching up and mountain therapy. Lets hope that all remains stable and we can meet up again soon.
