There were two options to get up to the Col du Pre. The shorter route crossed over a large area of snow that had recently avalanched, so we played things safe and continued up through the forest on the snow covered switchbacks until we reached the Col. The sign to mark our arrival was just still visible above the deep snowpack at the top.
Having stopped at the amazing bakery in Areche, we took an early lunch at the col, where we enjoyed the views, food and rest, before carrying onwards towards the peak called the Roche Parstire.
Although it had begun to cloud over, the skinning got steeper and it was warm enough to strip down to thermals.
Near the top, things got rather steep and having watched others struggle, we put on our ski crampons for extra grip.
We decided to make our descent from just below the summit proper. The snow was becoming heavy and we had to cross a large snow crevasse before making the final traverse along the ridge. The peak looked to have a large cornice too, so we set off down the steep slopes on snow that was much better than we'd thought it might be.
After the initial descent off the peak, we traversed around to the col so that we would not loose too much height and have to skin back up to it from the other side.
The light was becoming 'flat', but the grey skies framed the white mountains beautifully.
From the col, we had a super fun slide back down the road. It was the perfect angle to be able to just slide (at about 12km/h), which meant that we could relax and enjoy the view while the journey home slipped by with ease!
This took us right to the end of the road and virtually straight into the back of the car!
Driving back to the refuge, we stopped again at the bakery where we got the last of the days croissants, which we enjoyed on the comfort of the chalet balcony.
Having stopped at the amazing bakery in Areche, we took an early lunch at the col, where we enjoyed the views, food and rest, before carrying onwards towards the peak called the Roche Parstire.
Although it had begun to cloud over, the skinning got steeper and it was warm enough to strip down to thermals.
Near the top, things got rather steep and having watched others struggle, we put on our ski crampons for extra grip.
We decided to make our descent from just below the summit proper. The snow was becoming heavy and we had to cross a large snow crevasse before making the final traverse along the ridge. The peak looked to have a large cornice too, so we set off down the steep slopes on snow that was much better than we'd thought it might be.
After the initial descent off the peak, we traversed around to the col so that we would not loose too much height and have to skin back up to it from the other side.
The light was becoming 'flat', but the grey skies framed the white mountains beautifully.
From the col, we had a super fun slide back down the road. It was the perfect angle to be able to just slide (at about 12km/h), which meant that we could relax and enjoy the view while the journey home slipped by with ease!
This took us right to the end of the road and virtually straight into the back of the car!
Driving back to the refuge, we stopped again at the bakery where we got the last of the days croissants, which we enjoyed on the comfort of the chalet balcony.
No comments:
Post a Comment